Artemis Fowl: Nearing Perfection
by Lli
Summary: The sequel to Artemis Fowl: The Desiderata. Holly gets assigned to the theft and/or kidnapping (it depends who you ask) of an ancient Fairy relic and has to deal with choking hazards, racist co-workers, duelling lovers, and an Irishman who is worse than all the rest of it combined. AU set after The Eternity Code.
1. Prologue

I have finally got my act together and written this thing. It's been several years in the making (not that the quality has been much improved with age) but, at last, here it is! Hopefully there will be a third and final story after this, but let's not get ahead of ourselves.

If you haven't read Artemis Fowl: The Desiderata here's the deal: basically, these stories part ways with the series after the third book. In The Desiderata, Artemis and Butler regained their memories, helped Holly prove herself innocent of a high-profile theft, and generally had a grand old time at the expense of Root's blood pressure, who isn't dead. It's set some time after the third book, however: Artemis is seventeen in The Desiderata and nineteen in this.

This is, as per usual, a co-production, and would not have been possible without the one and only ilex-ferox.

* * *

**Artemis Fowl: Nearing Perfection**

_"You may be a fox," Ono called after her, "but you are the mother of my son and I love you. Come back whenever you wish, you will always be welcome." __-J__apanese Folktale_

**May 2nd, 2013, LEP Headquarters, Haven City**

"You're going to lose your eyesight if you stare at type that small through all this smoke."

Root looked up from the memo in his hand to the elf standing in his doorway. "Vinyaya," he said, by way of greeting.

"Root," she returned.

"Need something, Wing Commander?"

"Just missed your charming wit, that's all." She crossed the office and sat across from him, in the seat usually filled by quaking young corporals. Slinging her feet up onto his desk, a privilege reserved solely for them, she held out a hand, clearly waiting for something.

With a smile, Root put down the memo and reached into his cigar box. Deftly trimming a new one, he passed it to her. When she'd got it in her mouth, he leaned forward and lit it for her with an old human Zippo.

She inhaled appreciatively, blowing a few smoke rings before speaking. "You still have that hunk of junk?" She nodded to the lighter.

He shrugged. "Reminds me of the good old days," he said. She laughed. For a moment they sat in companionable silence, puffing away.

"Is that the INARe memo?" Vinyaya asked finally.

"How did you know?"

Vinyaya tapped the insignia on her sleek black uniform. "Section 8, remember? We know everything."

Root eyed her for a moment. "Foaly told you, didn't he?"

"Yeah."

"Bloody gossipy pony. Worse than Retrieval boys at the water cooler, I swear."

"Are you going to send someone?"

"I thought you knew everything?"

"I'm trying to pretend we're on a level playing field. Make you feel better, you know."

"Always the spirit of generosity." Root sighed, running a hand through his brush cut. "Yes, I'm sending someone. I'm thinking of Lope-"

Vinyaya made a disparaging noise that made Root stop halfway through the name.

"Yes?" he asked, eyebrows raised.

"Lopewood? Seriously?" Vinyaya gestured disbelievingly with her cigar.

"I take it you have someone in mind."

"You know I do."

"She's busy."

"Doing what? Tracking rogue gnomes in Disneyland via video feed? Give her something she can sink her teeth into."

Root grimaced.

Vinyaya contemplated him for a moment. "You're worried Fowl'll get mixed up in this, aren't you?"

"Well, can you blame me? He does have an uncanny ability to show up when least wanted. And this is sensitive. This is our history."

"It's also all the way over in Japan. I'm sure he's too busy with his own little heists to care. It's not like they're telepathically linked or something."

"You know, there are days when I wonder."

"Don't be silly, Julius. Send Holly. I'll make you dinner on Sunday if you do."

"Acorn casserole?"

"Yes."

"With nettle sauce?"

"Yes."

"And those tasty grilled beetles?"

"_Yes_, Julius."

Root puffed thoughtfully on his cigar for a moment before pressing the intercom button on his desk. "Short, I want you in my office five minutes ago."

Vinyaya rolled her eyes.


	2. The Side Effects of Tedium

Alright, so several things: first, fair warning, the next chapter will not be out nearly so fast. Second, like in The Desiderata, there are multiple allusions to other well known mystery universes, as well as the AF fanfiction world, scattered throughout the story. Bonus points if you get them! Which means nothing other than I'll be impressed. Also, as a side note, the opening paragraph of this chapter was written (quite a while ago) during a flurry of fanfictions that all fawned over how pretty Artemis was. I'm afraid I got a bit fed up with this so here's some very belated snark.

As always, thanks to ilex-ferox for the wonderful betaing.

* * *

**Chapter One: The Side Effects of Tedium**

**8:30 pm, May 3rd, somewhere above the East China Sea**

Artemis Fowl II was a thin, pale young man with an aristocratic nose, glorious cheekbones, and eyes just a few shades darker than that fabled Irish blue. Had he so chosen, he could have been a charming and debonair young rake, with many a pretty young debutante throwing herself at his feet. Fortunately for those unsuspecting debutantes he had bigger fish to fry than beautiful woman. Human ones, at any rate. Not to mention, his dark eyes were just a little too cold, his pallor a shade too peaky, and his seemingly lovely mouth sometimes too reminiscent of a shark's grim grin, for him to be the object of all but the most mercenary of attentions.

Not that Artemis was currently thinking about any of these things. No, at the moment, his much-vaunted intellect was occupied with flying his family's Lear jet towards Kansai International Airport, putting the finishing touches on his opening remarks to the person he and his ever-faithful Butler were flying to meet, and last, but not least, evading Butler's none-too-subtle remarks, which had begun somewhere over Finland.

"You know," Butler was saying now, "usually when a young man wants to see a girl he just calls her."

Artemis pretended to be immersed in the weather patterns but Butler saw a muscle in his jaw twitch.

"Generally, I think, flying halfway around the world to meet her, without forewarning, is considered to be 'coming on a bit strong'." The enormous bodyguard – who looked more than a little squashed in his co-pilot's seat – didn't even bother trying to keep a straight face. Butler didn't get the chance to tease his charge very often and he was enjoying it quite a bit, particularly in light of recent events. It wasn't that he was a vengeful person, not really. And this was for Artemis' own good. He needed to loosen up.

Against his better judgement, Artemis rose to the bait. He couldn't help himself, it had been like this all the way from Ireland. "'Coming on a bit strong?' Nonsense, Butler, haven't you ever read a romance novel? They are filled with hapless young lovers go miles out of their way to be able to –miraculously, it would seem – run into the object of their desire and say, with feigned surprised and just a hint of indifference, 'Why, fancy seeing you here!'. It is not at all 'coming on a bit strong'."

"I stand corrected," Butler nodded gravely. "But if I could make one suggestion, Artemis?"

His charge lifted a delicate eyebrow.

"From what I remember, a romantic lead usually has some muscle mass to speak of with which—"

"Oh for the love of— _that's_ what this is all about? I didn't realise you were so petty, Butler."

"I am not petty, Artemis, you promised me. You looked me in the eye and _promised_ me."

The younger man shifted uneasily in his seat. "And I didn't break that promise, not entirely, not—"

"You built a solar-powered plane instead. What? Did you do reps with the toolbox while you were building it?"

"No, of course not, I simply—"

"You promised."

"Butler, I did exercise. I swear, I did. I even used that awful workout machine. It was just so _tedious_."

"Using it as a seat does not count, Artemis."

"I didn't—" But Artemis could see a lost cause when he saw one and decided to change tack. "All of this aside," he said stiffly, "none of that applies to this situation anyway. There are no young lovers here - this is not a romance, it's a mystery."

"Tell me something I don't know," Butler grumbled. "I, for one, am entirely mystified as to why I find myself en route to Japan."

"You know perfectly well why we're going to Japan," Artemis sniffed. "Because it is a proven fact that Holly Short has much more difficulty turning me down in person than over the telephone. _Therefore,_" he ignored Butler's sceptical look, "as it is imperative we take part in this investigation, we are flying to Japan."

"Yes, imperative," parroted Butler. "Oh, I can definitely see where you're coming from, Artemis. It's without a doubt your business if fairies are stealing from one another and pretty little Recon Cap— sorry, Majors are being transferred abroad and—"

"I'll tell her you called her little," Artemis interrupted.

Butler thought about this for a moment, before pursing his lips and staying silent.

Satisfied, Artemis made a show of turning his attention back to the controls, despite the fact they both knew he could (and indeed _had_ during a bout of extended sleepwalking at the age of nine) fly the Lear with his eyes closed.

**Several hours previously, May 3rd, Ryujin Transport Station, Mu**

Holly Short was tired. She had just spent four hours on a public shuttle en route from Haven City to Mu, the underwater fairy metropolis just off the coast of Yakushima. It had been cramped. It had been noisy. She just wanted to sit down and enjoy a bowl of _soba_, like the many be-suited business fairies whose work shift had ended right as Holly arrived in Mu's central station. Unfortunately for Holly, all those fairies seem to have jumped into line just ahead of her. Every food stall in the place was swamped and elves, dwarfs, gnomes, and sprites jostled for space on the tiny stools that clustered around each stall. Everywhere was a blizzard of slurped noodles, flapping elbows and gesticulating chopsticks. Holly had been in less dangerous pub fights.

By the time she got her own bowl of _soba_ and managed to find a stool, she was ready to collapse or, barring that, jab a chopstick into the ear of a particularly messy sprite to her left who had just splattered broth up her cheek while taking a particularly enthusiastic slurp. Holly sighed, stirring her own bowl of soup, knowing it was still too hot to drink.

As she stirred, she indulged in a bit of self-pity. Here she was, halfway across the world chasing a stolen fairy heirloom, saddled with a team of unknown INARe officers, and all without having the time to do her laundry before leaving. Deep down, underneath her aching muscles and stuffy sinuses, Holly was actually extremely happy about the entire situation, but a good wallow never hurt anyone (except maybe that sprite if he slurped one more time).

She was jolted out of her pity party by her communicator. It was playing a song she didn't recognise. There was a time when this would have worried her, but Artemis had been back for long enough by now that she counted herself lucky he had only changed her ringtone this time. The lyrics were something about red shoes and dancing the blues but she didn't pay them much attention once she saw the message.

_Meet me at the entrance to Fushimi Inari at 11pm._

It was always a bad sign when he was succinct. She put away her communicator, ignored questions like _How did he know I was_ _here?_, and tried to slurp her first bite of noodles in peace, only to catch sight of the moon-o-meter.

_D'Arvit, Artemis_, she thought. _Couldn't you at least have given me time to eat?_

She swallowed her noodles whole, ran for the nearest exit, stopped halfway there to choke on a piece of shitaki, declined to be Heimliched by a passing gnome, was Heimliched anyway, punched the gnome in the nose when it only made things worse, finally coughed up the shitaki somewhere over Yakushima, and made it to the temple in record time anyway. Her throat still felt raw when she landed.

**11pm, May 3rd, Fushimi Inari, Kyoto**

Inari-yama was a low mountain in the southern suburbs of the ancient capital city of Kyoto. Along its sides, vermilion _torii_ gates ran in endless, criss-crossing rows, bought by local business men to appease Inari, the Shinto god of prosperity, rice, and booze. By day, the seemingly endless tunnels of oranges, reds and golds were beautiful, running through drooping pines and the mossy statues of minors spirits like an otherworldly highway. By night, however, once the snack sellers and fortune tellers had shut up their stalls and the paths had emptied of devout grandparents, young lovers, and rowdy school children, the atmosphere was decidedly eery. The waxing moon drifted in and out of ragged scraps of cloud, sending shadows skittering over the wooden gates and the flagstones beneath. The forest was silent and, with the exception of the two figures loitering at the entrance, the mountainside seemed quite devoid of life.

Artemis glanced around casually, lids half lowered as if the prospect of a nocturnal rendez vous in a house of spirits bored him utterly. However, when Butler stiffened next to him (responding to some animal instinct Artemis lacked) his eyes opened abruptly and his gaze hastily swung back. It came to rest on the broad steps that led up to the gates. The stairs were made of dull grey stone and should in no way shimmer when a sudden patch of clouds parted to let the moonlight through. Artemis smiled. The scene became even more sinister.

"Why, good evening, Major," he said, not bothering to keep the smug note out of his voice, "fancy meeting you here."

Butler, not yet relaxing his grip on the Sig, thought he heard the faintest of resigned sighs.

"Steady on, Big Man," came the much-aggrieved and disembodied voice of Holly Short. There came the hiss of a pneumatic seal breaking, and a disgruntled elf came flickering into view her visor collapsing back into her helmet as she did so. Artemis smiled at her, despite her frown. "I want you to know, Mud Boy, that I burnt my tongue because of you," she said, crossing her arms. Her posture oozed righteous indignation.

"I'm terribly sorry to have rushed your dinner," he said, rearranging his face into a suitably penitent expression.

Holly snorted. "Are you sorry for hacking into my phone, too? And, presumably, my schedule and classified LEP correspondence?"

"You figured that out, did you?" he asked, looking genuinely sheepish.

"Didn't take a genius," she shot back.

"I'm afraid I'm not terribly sorry for any of it," Artemis admitted, holding his hands out in a 'what can I say?' sort of way. "Though if you don't like the ringtone, I can change it. That said, it _is_ David Bowie. If you don't like it our friendship may be at an end."

"You're hopeless, Artemis."

"Incorrigible," he agreed.

"That too," she said, stalking up the steps towards him. Instinctively, Artemis leaned away but all she did was give him a one-armed hug. With a wry smile, Artemis returned the gesture. Re-engaging her wings, she rose to give Butler a kiss on the cheek, her tiny arms circling his neck in a hug.

Butler smiled. "She likes me better," he ribbed his employer.

Artemis rolled his eyes. "Don't start that again, Butler." He did not want Holly present for a repeat performance of the plane conversation.

Holly shrugged, knowing innocence was bliss when it came to Artemis. "Seriously, though, Artemis, this was all very cute in Europe when you always seem to just 'happen' to be around at the right time. I was willing to give you the benefit of a very, very slim doubt then, but there's no way you're pulling that one halfway around the world. What are you doing here, Artemis?"

"Benefit of the doubt?" Artemis looked hurt, neatly side-stepping her question. "There was doubt? Why?" He ignored Butler's snort. "Holly, as I told you then, I'd never seen the running of the bulls before. And there was that conference in Reykjavik I was attending—"

"And that time with the giant rat from Sumatra?"

"Well, I—"

"Or Wilson, the canary training gnome?"

"That was merely a—"

"Or the red leech and the dead banker in Poland?"

"Now that was clearly—"

"And the reason you deliberately evaded my actual question?"

"I had a—" Artemis stumbled to a halt, caught out. He pursed his lips. "I've come to help," he replied at last, drawing himself up. "I know the Kannon statue is very important to the People."

"And?"

"And...?"

"And when did you decide that I am incapable of doing my job? Do you really think I'm so inept that you need to turn up for every other above ground assignment I get?" Arms akimbo, she raised one dangerous eyebrow.

"No!" said Artemis looking affronted. "I am well aware of just how capable you are."

"So then..." Holly gestured for him to continue.

"I simply thought you might like some assistance," Artemis replied evasively, looking towards the shuttered souvenir stalls.

Holly's other eyebrow rose to join the first.

"He missed you," rumbled Butler, trying not to laugh.

"Butler!"

Smothering a laugh, Holly pressed a hand to her heart. "I'm touched, I really am, Artemis, but I don't need your help to do my job. If you want to hang out then call me when this is over. If you're keeping tabs on internal affairs you'll know when I'm done."

Artemis looked down at her, his face expressionless. Finally he sighed, his shoulders slumping. Holly knew he was putting it on but she felt a little sorry for him anyway. "But I'm bored, Captain," he said finally. "I'm trying to be a more ... upright citizen - to blow on my spark of decency, as someone once advised me to do - but it is _so__ dull_. Absolute tedium. I've been reduced to doing exer— never mind. You would be doing me a great favour. Please, Holly."

Holly eyed the human in front of her and did her best not to smile. "It's not up to me, Artemis," she said gently. "It's up to Root and the INARe commander."But Artemis looked so pitiful that she couldn't help herself. "Okay, alright, fine. We'll call Root and see what he says. But if he says no – which he will – there's nothing more I can do!"

"Of course not, Captain, I understand," said Artemis but, when Holly turned to look at Butler, his grin was wicked.

* * *

The three were an unusual group. Two humans! If the evidence wasn't right there before her eyes she'd never have believed it. The elf wore the LEP insignia, however, and they were talking about Kannon. Maybe the LEP had human contacts now? It had been so long since she'd been in the world who knew what could have changed?

Longnu watched as the unlikely trio left the _torii_ behind, heading down the cobbled alley back to the main road. The magic had told her to come here, that these people would help her find her mistress, and it was not in her nature to distrust the magic. For the first time in her long life, however, she felt doubt. But she had a job to do so she pushed it to the back of her mind and followed them, her long, sinuous body slipping along the electrical lines, too fast to be seen.


	3. Here There Be Dragons

Here we go again! This chapter owes a debt of gratitude to the "get directions" feature on Google Maps. Also to ilex-ferox for the wonderful beta-ing.

* * *

**Chapter Two: Here There Be Dragons**

**11:45pm, May 3rd, Kyoto  
**

Butler drove them all back to the hotel without saying a word. Artemis and Holly sat in the back seat and bickered good-naturedly about the new additions to her wing rig. Butler watched them in the rear view mirror, smiling to himself; Artemis was all grown up and making friends.

When they arrived at the hotel suite, Holly stared up at the glossy, stainless steel fridge with a look of longing. "I only got a few mouthfuls of dinner before I had to come and meet you two," she said wistfully.

Butler rolled his eyes and, after handing her a laptop, began a stir fry.

It was probably due to the promise of said stir fry that she reacted as well as she did when she found _Squabble_, the free online fairy communication service, already downloaded onto the laptop. All she said was: "Your computer understands this program?"

Admiring the room's view with particular concentration, Artemis shrugged as he peered out towards the distant skyline. "It needed a little ... help," he admitted.

'Help' Holly mouthed at the laptop screen, making air quotes with her fingers. Help, she was sure, that had been liberated from Foaly's lengthy line of patents.

As her call went through, Holly's posture became noticeably more rigid, until her spine was a perfect ninety-degree angle to the floor. At the last second, she noticed the volume setting and one hand darted forward to lower it.

Commander Root didn't bother with formalities.

"According to the centaur's gewgaws down here, you're calling from an unknown computer, Short. A Mud Man computer." His trademark cigar flapped up and down in the corner of his mouth while he ground it viciously between his molars, sending ash flying every which way. "Now why would that be, I wonder, _Major_?"

"There, er, there have been some—" she pursed her lips before settling on, "developments, sir."

"Developments? With you? I'm shocked," Root deadpanned. The darkening of his rosé complexion to a full-bodied red was the only sign of impending fury. "For your sake, I hope they aren't the developments I think they are, Short."

"Er..." put forward Holly, which wasn't really very reassuring. With a resigned wave, she motioned for the others to join her at the computer.

As two humans and one plate of vegetable stir fry settled themselves around his favourite officer, Root bit down on his cigar with sudden violence.

His cheeks glowing like the fiery heart of a volcano, Root sat for a moment in near silence; the only sound coming through the speakers was the inexorable shredding of his cigar as it was turned to pulp.

"I really wish," he said at last, "that this surprised me. How do you _do_ this, Holly? I _told_ Vinyaya! You two have some sort of bizarre telepathic connection, don't you? Or did he put a tracking chip in you down in his cellar? Some kind of radar system maybe? Echo-location? What? Seriously, I want to know."

"I wish I knew, sir," Holly replied, looking chagrined. Artemis glanced at her, pleased that she hadn't mentioned his hacking.

Root snorted, clearly not believing a word of it. "I'll just bet you do," he muttered. Turning a beady eye on Artemis he blew smoke from his nose. "Alright, Mud Man, what do you want this time?"

"To help," Artemis replied promptly, trying – and failing – to look innocent.

"And I'm a swear toad." Foaly joined the conversation just in time to be a smart ass.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you it was rude to listen in on other people's conversations?" Root asked, glaring through the smoke that was beginning to cloud his screen.

"Sure," replied Foaly, "but only once. She knew a lost cause when she saw one. Come on, Artemis, you could at least have made up something a bit more believable."

Artemis pursed his lips. "Is it really so hard to believe? I'm a changed man."

Root snorted, then pounded his chest as he choked on cigar smoke.

"Alright," Artemis sighed exaggeratedly, "if you must know, I find the whole idea extremely intriguing."

"The theft of a statue?" Foaly asked. "Pretty run of the mill stuff, Artemis."

"Except that it isn't, is it? Kannon, she was a fairy once, wasn't she? The stolen statue, it isn't just some carved replica of Kannon, it supposedly _is_ her. She turned herself into a statue in order to retreat from the world."

"Supposedly being the operative word here," Foaly said. "Where do you get this stuff, Artemis? That's a story most of the People don't even know anymore. But it's still just that - a story."

"Wait, you don't believe it?" Holly asked around a mouthful of bok choy.

Foaly snorted. "Of course not! Some fairy warlock with a thousand arms turning herself into a lump of gold? It's just a legend. Which isn't to say the statue isn't really old and a really important cultural artefact, etcetera, etcetera, but it's still a theft, not a kidnapping."

"What were you hoping to discover, Mud Boy? Kannon's secrets?" Root stared at the boy around his cigar. "Because she's one of the Old Ones, older than Freya even. She'd not have time for some puny Mud Kid like you. Your life's the blink of an eye for her."

"Uh, am I the only here who has grasped the fact that Kannon's dead and gone?" Foaly tapped his camera lens to get their attention. "Even if she did 'turn herself to gold' it was nearly ten thousand years ago, right after Taillte. Her spirit would be long, long, _long_ gone by now. It's just a lump of gold! She's not gonna be blinking her eyes at anyone, let alone Artemis."

"Have a bit of respect, Pony," said Root gruffly.

Foaly clearly believed himself the only sane person in this conversation. "Alright, so it's a _sacred_ statue then. We still don't need Artemis to help us locate the thieves."

Root chewed his cigar thoughtfully. "No, I've changed my mind. Let him help. It would be good for him to learn a bit about the Old Ones. He thinks we're all just funny little men with fancy guns. This'll be educational. Besides, from what I hear, the INARe captain being assigned to Holly is a bit of a mud slinger so, if nothing else, it'll make me happy knowing someone's giving him hell."

"Such noble sentiments," Artemis remarked wryly.

Root shrugged. "You want to help or not, Mud Boy?"

"Yes," said Artemis quickly.

"I'll tell Commander Kuzu about the 'developments' then," Root sighed. "Don't make me regret this," he said and, with one final glare, signed off.

"Theft, not kidnapping," said Foaly, wagging a finger at the threesome. "And you people call _me_ crazy!" he muttered as he signed off as well.

"That went better than I expected," Holly admitted, trying surreptitiously to wipe up the last of the sauce with a finger. Butler passed her a slice of bread.

"What's a mud slinger?" asked Artemis.

Holly sighed, swallowing a mouthful of bread. "It's more-or-less what I was up until our little Arctic adventure. It's someone who has it in for Mud Men. And I mean _really_ has it in for you. Generally speaking, they fall into two categories: either they're ultra-conservative rednecks or they've been personally affected by Mud Men, like losing a loved one to a mining accident, or something like that."

"Or been kidnapped and subjected to psychological warfare," Artemis added.

"Yes, that would probably do it. However, as far as I know, that's only happened once, and it turned out okay." She smiled at him before popping the last of the bread into her mouth.

Artemis smiled back.

"Not to interrupt the reconciliation process here," interrupted Butler, "but is one of you going to explain what's going on anytime soon?" He waved a spatula in an impressively threatening way for something made of silicone.

Artemis nodded. "I will as soon as we let in our guest."

"What gu—"

But Butler didn't have to finish his sentence. He had turned to face the windows and so found himself staring at a red and gold dragon hovering on the other side of them. This answered his question but, unfortunately, brought up another.

"Let it _in_?"

* * *

Longnu tapped the glass delicately with a claw. The big one reached for something shiny and metallic. She tapped again, somewhat impatiently; it was windy out there and that vegetable stir fry looked good.

The skinny one came to the window first. Opening it, he held out his hand, a human gesture of greeting, she seemed to recall. She took it in one claw and shook it. She felt quite proud for having remembered.

"I assume you'd like to come in," said the Mud Man.

"Please," replied Longnu, her voice gravelly with disuse. "The wind up here is a bit chilly."

"You aren't going to ..." he paused, looking faintly embarrassed.

"Going to what?"

"Well, eat us, or something equally unfortunate, are you?"

"_Eat_ you?" Longnu made a face. "You humans are so coarse. I'm a vegetarian for Frond's sake!"

The human looked at her for a moment. "Of course you are," he said at last, and stepped aside to let her in.

As she entered, she let the dragon fade into a twist of smoke, leaving her body in its natural state: that of a diminutive elf-like fairy.

The big man didn't put down his shiny metal thing.

"I don't suppose," Longnu said hopefully, "that you've any of that stir fry left?"

The skinny one glanced at the big one, who frowned and mumbled something about a "drive through" before returning to the fridge.

"Longnu," said the elf suddenly, snapping her fingers. "I knew you looked familiar. I did a project on you in third grade."

The skinny one made a quiet sound of satisfaction, as though he had just solved a puzzle.

"Oh," replied Longnu, unsure of what "doing a project" meant exactly. "How ... nice?"

"It was! I scared the Frond out of the other kids with my dragon puppet. I'm Holly. Holly Short." The elf held out her hand like the skinny human had. Longnu shook it as well. Apparently the gesture had caught on with the People too.

"Artemis Fowl the Second," the skinny Mud Man said. Longnu was relieved he didn't hold out his hand to shake again, he was a lot taller now that she was on the ground. He gestured to the big one, "And this is Butler. I presume you are here to talk about your mistress?"

Butler put a pan on the stove with a clang and turned to face them, hands on hips. "Will somebody - anybody, I'm really not picky - explain what is going on here? Who is the dragon fairy and what's her mistress got to do with anything? I'm serious, Artemis, stop smiling. There will be no more stir fries, or food of any kind, until I get some answers."

Holly and Artemis exchanged a look. "You go ahead, Artemis, you like to explain things."

"Oh no, I wouldn't dream of it, it's your mission."

"No, no, you don't need to be polite, you go on."

"Please, Holly, I couldn't—"

Butler cleared his throat pointedly. Holly made a shooing gesture.

"Well, if you insist," said Artemis, and he and Holly shared a wicked grin. Butler crossed his arms and waited. Artemis coughed delicately to clear his throat and began to talk.


	4. Just Like Old Times

Sorry for the wait - alas, real life! As always, thanks to ilex-ferox for the wonderful beta-ing.  
A new character is introduced in this chapter who is (loosely) based on a character in Buddhist legend. Feel free to look her up for some more back story, she's got her own Wikipedia page.

* * *

**Chapter Three: Just Like Old Times**

******The very early hours of May 4th, Kyoto**

"As you know, my dear Butler, a statue has been stolen. Now, the statue usually sits in the Sanjusangendo Temple here in Kyoto since the humans believe it to be a work of art depicting the Buddhist Bodhisattva Kannon, dating from the 12th century. I first learnt about the robbery—contrary to popular belief—from the BBC when the Japanese government reported it missing."

"The hacking of LEP correspondence came after that, then, did it?" Holly enquired.

"Soon after, yes," Artemis replied, quickly changing the subject. "As I was saying, the humans believe it to be no more than a statue, as, apparently, do many of the People, if Foaly is any example. However, in my research I found the story of Kannon's transformation and was ... intrigued; though I suppose you would know more about that than I would," Artemis turned to Longnu.

The fairy nodded sadly. "Yes, it was a very long time ago, but I still remember it clearly. Kannon was in so much pain, you see, it was unbearable. In an attempt to save herself she retreated into her mind, creating a spell that would allow her to…" The fairy cast around for the right words. Her final choice clearly didn't fully please her. "…hibernate for thousands of years. She allowed a portion of her subconscious to remain active, believing it would sense if the world needed her again and wake her."

"So the statue's not a statue," said Butler. "She's just having a ten thousand year-long meditation marathon."

"Well," Longnu cocked her head to the side, "yes, I suppose."

"And remind me again, who exactly you are?"

Longnu frowned. "Longnu, Holly explained that already."

"But for those of us who missed Holly's dragon puppet demonstration..." prompted Butler.

"She's one of Kannon's two disciples," Artemis replied. "Also supposedly a statue."

"Well, I _was_ a statue. You get such awful kinks in your spine when you meditate that long – it's going to take me years to get them out."

"So you saw who took her then?" Holly asked, eagerly.

"Yes and no," Longnu said slowly, "I didn't see them, but I heard them. I couldn't wake up fast enough." She hung her head, her dimpled, pointed face suddenly closed and sombre.

"That's alright," Holly reassured her, "that's what we're here for. You did us a favour, really: if you'd stopped them, Artemis would still be home in Ireland, bored to tears."

After a quelling look at Holly, Artemis asked the obvious question. "Who took Kannon, Longnu?"

The fairy ground her teeth. "Ama, who else? Of course she couldn't do it alone; her brothers helped."

"Ama?"

"Amaterasu Okami," Longnu explained, as if that clarified things.

"Oh right," said Butler to the pan. "Her."

"The Japanese think she's the goddess of the sun, but she's—"

"No, wait, let me guess," Butler interrupted Holly's explanation, "a really old fairy."

"In one," said Holly with a wry smile. "Same goes for her brothers. But why would they want Kannon?"

"I heard them talking," Longnu explained, "they're hoping she'll help with some plan. They're making something, I don't know what. They were arguing. Amaterasu wanted to wake her up but the boys wanted to just lock her up. They were worried she would stop them."

"Which means that we're going to have to stop them instead, doesn't it?" Butler asked rhetorically, placing a steaming plate on the counter. "Funny how that works out."

Longnu took the chopsticks he offered her and tucked in, clearly ravenous.

"How did you find us?" Holly asked her as she ate.

"Ah fowwowed da mawick," Longnu replied with her mouth full.

"You followed the magic?" Artemis translated. She nodded. He frowned, turning to Holly, "What kind of magic would that be?"

Holly sighed. "Do you remember when Root said it would be good for you to meet the Old Ones?"

Artemis nodded.

"Well, Longnu is an Old One, just like Kannon. In those days, fairies were different. Our magic was much stronger: it wasn't just healing and the Mesmer and little things like that. We really were gods and monsters like in your stories. In those days our magic could do anything.

"After the battle of Taillte that ended. We went below ground and we traded in our magic for technology. We're nothing too special any more. But fairies like Kannon, well, the humans say she's the goddess of mercy; and she was, in a way. She was an empath and the greatest healer the People have ever had. I'm assuming that's why she was in so much pain after Taillte, with all the dead and the wounded and the loss." Holly looked at Longnu, wanting confirmation.

The other fairy nodded sadly. "We were a broken people," she said.

Holly put a hand on Longnu's arm, and Longnu covered it with one of her own. Artemis and Butler glanced at each other, both feeling slightly uncomfortable.

"They say Kannon even had the power to bring people back from the dead if their soul was still lingering," said Holly at last.

"That's true, actually," Longnu spoke quietly. "I saw her do it once. She brought back a girl who had just died, but whose soul hadn't left yet. The girl was in love, you see, and couldn't bear to leave her lover behind." She looked away suddenly, out of the window, into the night, so that they couldn't see her face.

"Is it true that she has eleven heads and a thousand arms?" asked Artemis, after what he thought was an appropriate pause. Judging by the look Holly gave him, he might have jumped the gun a bit.

Longnu nodded, coming back to the present. "Yes, she does. It comes in useful, you know, all those extra limbs. The multi-tasking - it was incredible." But her joke was half-hearted at best and she lapsed into thought again, playing idly with her food.

"But this magic you followed," Artemis prodded, ignoring Holly's reproachful glare. He had no time for her blossoming hero-worship. "How exactly did it lead you to us?"

"Oh, I get visions, of course." Returning to the present, Longnu dismissed her explanations with a breezy wave of her chopsticks, as though this were quite a normal turn of events. "I have to say, I was very surprised to have one of two humans and an elf - none of whom I'd ever met - but that's magic for you. Never just comes out and says what it means. Mind you, even if I knew where Kannon was, I'd need help to rescue her I suppose. So maybe this is all for the best in the long run. It usually is. That's the worst part about magic: you curse it for sending you on a wild goose chase and in the end find out it was right all along. You can almost hear it saying _I told you so_."

"How terribly frustrating," said Artemis with a perfectly straight face.

* * *

**Meanwhile, on the other side of town**

Mulch Diggums didn't have many morals. He considered that to be one of his strong points. People hired him and he did his job. Or he did his own jobs. Sure, occasionally he got caught up in some philanthropic save-the-world scheme, but he tried not to let that tarnish an otherwise unsullied record of larceny, fraud and general malefaction. Unfortunately for him it seemed that, somewhere along the line, those philanthropic escapades had made a lasting impression. Here he was, putting the finishing touches on a job worth, if not _buckets_, at least _a_ bucket of gold - and he was having second thoughts.

He had what he had been paid to get. If he was clever, he'd leave now and collect his payment. And it wasn't that he wasn't clever. No, in fact, Mulch liked to believe that he was actually a particularly clever dwarf.

Mulch took a swig from his _yomogi_ beer and glowered into its depths. It's wasn't as if he was breaking a contract either. He wasn't working for _them_. However, though there may be little honour among thieves, informing was still seen as the greatest sin a criminal could commit.

Mulch sighed. Well, he wasn't a popular guy these days anyway. That whole "collaborating with the police" had really put a damper on his socializing.

If only he'd just stayed put! They hadn't seen him in their rush to get Kannon out of there, they'd have been none the wiser. _But o__h no_, he thought to himself, as he drained the beer, _you had to jump on that truck and go along for the ride. Your poor mother must be rolling in her clay._

He looked at the picture he'd snapped. The protective wrapping hadn't been big enough to cover her entirely. No honour among thieves perhaps but this wasn't theft, it was kidnapping. With a hefty sigh, he sent the picture to someone with a bit more knowledge in that field.

* * *

Holly looked down when her communicator beeped. "It's from Mulch," she said, opening the attachment. "He sent me a— oh."

Artemis craned to look around her shoulder.

"It's rude to read other people's mail," Holly chastised him even as she showed him the photo.

Artemis' eyebrows hiked up his forehead a few inches. "Well, that's convenient," he said. "I didn't realise Mulch was in the area."

Holly nodded. "He decided things were a bit too hot in Haven. Thought he'd spend some time in Mu." She turned to Longnu, holding up the communicator so everyone could see. "We've found Kannon."

While Longnu held the communicator gently in her hands as though it were Kannon herself, not a picture, Holly turned to Butler. "You may want to make extra for lunch," she said. Underneath the photo, a line of text read: _Pick me up outside Le Grand Bleu in half an hour._

* * *

**Later that morning, Gion district, Kyoto**

Le Grand Bleu was a hole-in-the-wall bar across the river from the Gion district. As the neighbourhood was overrun by tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of a geisha, no one noticed the odd fairy ducking in for a quick cup of sake. Run by an ex-pat sprite from Oregon, it catered to a clientele made up of the local People, mainly _kitsune_ and _kappa_, and had a strict no-human policy. Therefore Mulch waited for his ride on the sidewalk, comfortably tipsy after a long and nostalgic conversation with Mild Dew, the bar-dwarf. He sat on the cobblestones completely unafraid: one of the People's favourite things about Japan was that even if you were a grubby, hirsute dwarf with teeth big enough to crush small dogs, the locals were far too polite to take notice.

However, having been collected by a grumpy Major Short and hustled into a rental car as stealthily as it was possible to hustle a slightly inebriated dwarf down uneven cobblestones, he now sat at the hotel suite's island happily guzzling Butler's endless supply of stir fry. If he was about to lose all his credibility among the People's criminal element, he thought to himself, at least he was getting a good meal out of it.

"Do you make your own sauce, Butler? It really shows," he grinned up at the enormous body guard, bits of bean sprout and carrot stuck between his tombstone teeth.

Butler shuddered delicately, something difficult for a man of his stature to pull off. "Yes, actually," he answered, "I do."

"It's just fabulous, that hint of pineapple is spot on."

Butler's shudder morphed into a beaming grin. "Thank you, Mulch, I'm glad you noticed. I've be playing with the recipe and—"

Artemis coughed pointedly.

Mulch gave Butler a covert thumbs-up and turned his big brown eyes on Artemis.

"How _exactly_ did you come across Kannon, Mulch?" Holly growled, leaving Artemis with his mouth open, about to speak. Put out, he frowned down at her. "I thought you were here to lie low? Whatever happened to _that_ plan?"

Mulch looked hurt, putting a hand to his heart. "Do you really believe I had something to do with this crime, Captain? I'm merely trying to be of service to my—"

"Spare me the sob story, Mulch. Just tell us the truth. And it's Major now." Holly beat a tattoo on the counter top with her fingers.

"Ooh, promotion, how—" But Mulch caught her eye and decided maybe it would be smarter to just tell the truth.

He told them the whole story: how a Swiss collector had hired him to steal one of the one thousand smaller statues of Kannon – the ones actually made by human artists; how everything had gone to plan until some crazy _kitsune_ had shown up with her three brothers and a horde of _kappa_ servants and proceeded to kidnap Kannon; how they'd loaded her onto a sixteen-wheeler; how he'd ridden on top of the truck all the way out to their ancestral home in the mountains around Lake Biwa, only to have to high-tail it before the kappas saw him; how he'd then had to hike all the way back to the Nishi-Otsu by-pass just to catch a ride back into Kyoto; how he'd had to sneak back through the throngs of police the next night and steal a smaller statue - for which he still hadn't been able to collect his payment, might he just add.

"But hey, theft is one thing, kidnapping is another. I don't want to get dragged into another one of those."

"So you came to the experts." Holly managed a smile at that.

"Well, I didn't know the whole gang had got together again, I just thought you'd be interested. Speaking of which, why didn't I get an invitation to this reunion? What am I - chopped troll?"

"Trust me, Mulch, I got ambushed, not invited," Holly shot a glare at Artemis.

Mulch nodded appreciatively at Artemis. "Ni-ice. She can't say no once you've come all this way, can she?"

Artemis gave Butler a pointed look.

Butler muttered something that sounded like "Overkill" but Artemis elected to ignore it.

"What do we do _now_ though?" asked Longnu, who had thus far been silent. She was still holding Holly's communicator with its picture of Kannon. "Do we storm their stronghold and hack them to pieces?" She looked up from the picture, eyebrows raised expectantly. "I'll be a little rusty, but I used to be quite good with a sword. Amaterasu's slippery, but I'm pretty sure I could kill Tsuki if I had to." She looked up, eyeing Butler then Holly. "Between the three of us, I'm sure we could dispose of them relatively quickly. I'm guessing you don't fight, Artemis. You certainly don't appear to have the upper body strength."

Holly coughed suddenly and Mulch pounded her on the back. Steadfastly ignoring them, Artemis drew himself up. "My body is not my weapon of choice," he said a touch coldly. "And while 'hacking them to pieces' is not my usual _modus operandi_, we could certainly... consider it as a back-up plan."

"Oh. I suppose." Longnu looked vaguely disappointed.

"I thought Kannon and her cronies were supposed to be peace-loving hippies?" Mulch muttered to Holly. "She's as bad as you are."

"I would _never_ 'storm a stronghold'," Holly whispered back, having got over her coughing fit. "I'd go in through the vents. Much sneakier."

"Fair," allowed Mulch.

"Then what is you usual '_modus __operandi_'?" asked Longnu. "Do you have a plan?"

All eyes turned to Artemis. He ignored them, delicately picking through his own stir fry with a pair of chopsticks.

"_Well_?" pressured Holly after a moment of silence.

"Well what, Holly?"

"Well, don't you have a plan, Artemis?"

"Without first having all the facts? My dear Major Short, I am a professional."

"A professional pain in the rear," muttered Holly.

"You're so charming sometimes, Holly. You quite spoil me, you know."

She gave him a withering look.

"Just like old times," said Mulch, rubbing his full belly. "Seriously though, guys, this has been great and all - especially the food, Butler - but I've got to go. I have a statue I need to sell."

Holly raised an eyebrow. "Do you really think I'm going to let you run off with stolen property, Mulch?"

"Aw, come on, Holly. I scratch your back, you scratch mine."

"First of all, I wouldn't touch your back with a ten-foot buzz baton, second of all, I'm still a cop, Mulch. You steal something and I lock you up. That's how this works."

"Besides," Artemis interjected, "I'm going to need details. As much as you can tell me about the kidnappers and their help."

Mulch sighed. "Just like old times," he grumbled.


	5. The Ice Queen and the Red Boy

Side note: there's a character introduced in this chapter that, if you Google him, will only show up under the name "Sudhana". "Shancai" is the name of a Chinese variant of the same character and, apparently, a Chinese girl band?

Also, I have jumped on the Archive of Our Own bandwagon, and will be slowly moving everything from here to there. Mind you, I'm not sure how much I will be writing after this/how many people will be left in this fandom. The end of the series has that effect, doesn't it?

Thanks, as always to ilex-ferox for being such a fabulous beta!

* * *

**Chapter Four: The Ice Queen and The Red Boy**

**2:24 am, May 4th, Kyoto**

Butler and Longnu were drinking tea while Holly taught them the rules to Kappa-Sprite-Dwarf, a card game involving four decks, three dice, and no discernible point as far as Butler could tell. Mulch and Artemis sat at the other end of the island, deep in discussion. Mulch was hand-cuffed to the towel rack.

"Cameras?"

"Mud Man. Nothing special."

"Mud Man security cameras?" Artemis repeated, frowning.

"Oh, sure, way cheaper. And the fairies here don't shield, they shape-shift, so there's no point in spending the extra cash."

"Interesting." Artemis filed this away for future use. "And they have no hired muscle?"

"None that I saw. It's not like they need it to kidnap some statuary, is it?"

"True; but if, as we have reason to believe, the kidnapping is but one step in a master plan..." Artemis let the sentence hang.

"Well, the only other people I saw around were some _kappa_ servants. But I mean really, her brothers are all the muscle they need. You know her twin, Tsuki, once killed another fairy just because he didn't like the way she made him dinner? If Longnu can take him down then she must be pretty good. And then there's their younger brother Susano. There's a reason they thought he was the god of the summer storm. Mind you, they do come from a very broken home."

"Yes, but they are no longer at the height of their powers."

"No, though Amaterasu certainly hasn't dimmed, if you know what I mean." Mulch waggled his eyebrows.

Artemis pinched the bridge of his nose. "Yes, Mulch, I grasp the euphemism."

"I'm just saying, she could grasp my euphemism 'til the—"

"Mulch, please!" said Artemis. "'Euphemism' was not a euphemism for— oh, never mind. I've got all I need from our friend here, Holly. You may as well let him go. All I need now is to think a little."

Holly snorted. "You go think all you like, but Mulch is staying right there."

"Aww, Holly—"

Artemis retreated into his room, closing the door on the ensuing argument.

* * *

When Artemis re-emerged, Butler was doing the washing-up while Holly gossiped with Mulch about shared acquaintances in Mu; apparently they had got over their differences long enough to swap stories. Longnu sat at the far end of the island, once more holding Holly's communicator in her hand.

"Was it you?" Artemis asked quietly, coming to sit next to her.

"Was what me?" Longnu looked up at him, her eyes black despite the bright kitchen lights.

"The girl that Kannon brought back from the dead, was it you?"

The fairy turned back to the communicator. "Yes," she said, after a moment. "Yes, it was."

"Whom did you love?" Artemis asked. He put a hand on her shoulder, an uncommon gesture for him. "They must be long gone by now, I'm sorry."

She shook her head. "They're not. At least, I hope not. At any rate, if they are, it wouldn't be 'long gone' _per se_. Frond, I hope she isn't."

"Ah," said Artemis as realisation dawned. "You're in love with _her,_ then?"

Longnu nodded. "Oh, well, I mean, if you knew her you'd understand. Everybody loved Kannon, you couldn't not. Well, except Amaterasu. But that's another story."

"But not everybody was _in_ love with her."

"No," said Longnu, "that was just me."

Artemis looked up briefly as Holly howled with laughter at something Mulch said, then re-focussed his attention. "Did she ... return your affection?"

Longnu smiled sadly. "I think she may have, but it wasn't—. Well, I was supposed to marry a prince, you see, another one of her acolytes, Shancai. We were engaged and everything. But then Taìllte came and our world was destroyed. Shancai's father died, my parents died. Everyone died. Or they fled. But Shancai and I stayed with Kannon. We lived above ground because she still believed that we could all still live together. She healed humans too, you know. She'd heal anyone or anything, no matter who or what they were. But, when it became clear that that wouldn't work, we hid inside ourselves and hoped for the best..." Longnu trailed off before shaking herself. "Sorry. Sometimes I ramble. What I meant to say was, right before we closed ourselves off, she kissed me. Just the once, but she kissed me. So maybe ... maybe she did," the fairy finished softly, her fingers touching her lips.

"Not entirely a selfless act then, bringing you back to life."

Longnu laughed quietly. "No, perhaps not. But we're none of us perfect, not even her."

"And what about this Shan—"

"Artemis, thought of anything yet?" Holly interrupted his question, leaning one arm on the island and grinning at him.

"Excuse me." Artemis smiled at Longnu before rising from his seat and crossing to the other end of the island. "Can't do without me for five minutes can you, Major?"

"Well, you came to me seeking entertainment, I'm just trying to help a friend in need."

"So kind of you. And yes, I have a plan for you."

But Holly's grin had faded when she caught sight of the clock above the stove. "That's great, but I'm afraid you're going to have to hold that thought, actually."

"What?" Artemis frowned as the elf headed for the door. "Holly, where are you going?"

The elf paused, one boot on, one off. "While I'm thrilled you have a plan, Artemis, and, truly, I can't wait to hear it, hate it, and then nearly lose my life executing it, I have to go. I have a meeting with INARe that I'm about to be late for," she said, waving her communicator as if in proof.

Artemis made a moue of disappointment. His plans were so much more interesting than bureaucrats. He sighed dramatically. "And you made such a fuss. Well, I suppose my brilliance can wait a moment longer if absolutely necessary. Butler, the keys!"

He was off his stool and into his jacket before Holly could so much as stutter. As she watched Butler offer Longnu a sweater, she finally managed, "And _where_ exactly do you think you're going?"

Artemis frowned at her. "To a meeting with your INARe cohorts. Come on, be quick about it, Major. I thought you said we were going to be late?"

"I said _I _was going to be—" but he was already out of the door.

As she grabbed her helmet she heard him holler, "First impressions are important, Holly!" up the corridor. Cursing, she hustled Longnu and Butler out with her.

The door slammed shut behind them.

"Hey!" shouted Mulch, rattling his hand-cuffs. "Oy! Hey! What about me?"

No answer came.

"Typical," grouched Mulch. For a moment, he sat slouched in frustration. The hand cuffs clinked dully against the cabinets as his hand fell. Slowly, Mulch straightened up. Then he smiled, realising what Holly had done.

* * *

**4:47 am, May 4th, Inari-yama, Kyoto**

The sun was rising in a feeble, thin, milky way – rather like weak tea – when Holly arrived for her meeting.

What with the last minute additions, INARe Commander Kuzu had decided it would be safer to hold the meeting in a retired shuttle terminal under Kyoto rather than in its HQ in Mu. Chute N5, currently under repair, was located in the hills near Inari-yama, below a little used shrine to the god Inari. The last monk who had bothered to make the trudge up to clean the altar had died some 15 years ago but, being a true believer, had never thought twice about the odd number of foxes seen in the vicinity. _Kitsune_ were, after all, supposedly the messengers of Inari.

Holly had to type in the passcode and have her retina, skull structure, fingerprints and voice patterns scanned (by what had previously appeared to be a stone carving of a miniature fox) before the front of the altar sank into the ground, revealing a small, brightly lit stairway descending into the earth.

Butler whistled appreciatively.

"They want to keep out the rabble," she winked at him.

He didn't reply, but eyed the dimensions of the tunnel with misgivings.

The stairway ended in a short, broad hall that opened into a circular room filled with blandly upholstered seats that screamed "public utility". Artemis assumed that the room had once been a waiting lounge for the shuttle.

"So the rumours are true." Lounging in one of the chairs, one leg slung over the armrest and four tails dragging carelessly on the linoleum, was a long-limbed, russet-coloured fox. Her impeccably pressed brown linen uniform was made up of trousers that ended just above her calves and a white collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up. The matching brown jacket was slung over the back of the chair, a pair of gold maple leaves pinned to her shoulder lapels. Shrugging herself gracefully out of the chair, she padded, upright, towards the new arrivals. Standing on her hind legs she was nearly as tall as Artemis.

"If I'd known this was the sort of company I'd be forced to keep, I would never have taken the case," she purred, distaste causing her long, delicate nose to wrinkle.

Holly tried to hold on to her eyebrows. "And here _I_ was worried about making a bad first impression," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Holly," said Butler delicately, correctly gauging the room's descending temperature, "is that a talking fox?"

Holly sighed.

"Actually, I believe the term is 'Inari _kitsune_'," Artemis corrected.

"_Kistune_ are just another fairy species, Butler," Holly explained. "And INARe's only a job, Artemis, like LEPrecon."

The _kistune_ smiled in a serenely superior way that Holly found got right under her fingernails. Before she could vent her irritation, however, a side door opened, revealing a roly-poly little racoon-like creature, also on his hind legs (Butler made a mental note to just Google that one) and also in a brown uniform. Though, where the fox's was crisp and well-fitted, his was hopelessly rumpled and in danger of losing a few buttons across his gut. Catching sight of the new arrivals, his face broke into a broad grin.

"You owe me a fiver, Koko, I told you it was true." Waddling over, he gave a sloppy salute in transit. "Lieutenant Kuromame Maeda," he said by way of introduction, "but you can call me Jiji. I know you occidentals always have a hard time with our consonants. I hope Kokoro here hasn't been giving you the old Ice Queen routine; she's a real sweetheart under all that, I swear. And great with children."

"Really?" Holy asked, one eyebrow giving in and hiking a familiar trail up her forehead. "What does she do with them? Bake them into casseroles?"

The badger laughed, cajoling a cigar out of his breast pocket. "No, you're thinking of Baba Uta," he said. "She makes a fabulous kid stew." He winked at Artemis and Butler's revolted expressions. "If you like goat, that is."

Longnu was the only one who laughed.

"Differences aside—" Artemis began, before the conversation could degenerate further.

"'Differences aside'?" Kokoro interrupted, "We haven't _got _anything but differences."

The human man sighed. "While I understand that my slate is far from clean, believe me—"

"Don't flatter yourself, Mud Man, you're just the tip of the d'Arvitting iceberg."

Artemis sighed. "I hope that Root, at least, finds this exchange entertaining because, frankly, all we're doing right now is wasting time."

"I suppose he did warn us," said Holly, a wry smile on her lips. "Look, whatever your deal is, Captain Kokoro, I'm the officer in charge of this operation and if I say Artemis stays, he stays. Jiji, have we got a link to the Haven Ops Booth?"

"I'll set it up," said the badger.

Kokoro looked at Holly with disbelief. "Have you lost your mind? Don't you remember what he did to you? And now you want him helping on a matter of international security?"

"That's exactly what I want," Holly snapped. "And, yes, to your other question, I do. Probably better than you do. But if you have an issue with how I run things then feel free to go back to prison detail whenever you like. Clearly the company of criminals is more to your taste."

The fox glanced at Artemis. "Not much difference between this and that, Major Short. I can run background checks, too."

"Maybe we should all sit down and try this again?" Butler suggested mildly.

Kokoro opened her mouth to argue but shut it again at a look from Butler. Jutting her chin in the air, she turned away, throwing herself back into her chair.

"I'll put the kettle on, how about that?" Jiji puffed at his cigar, "And we've got biscuits here somewhere. The link is up and running, Major, whenever you want to call."

From her seat, Kokoro snorted with disgust.

"Really," the racoon fiddled with a cigar in his breast pocket, "don't take it personally. Her family was—"

"That's enough, Lieutenant," the _kitsune_ snapped. "Why don't you go get our guest? I'm sure Major Short will want to meet him."

Jiji shrugged and put down the box of tea. "Right away, Captain."

"Alright." Butler picked up where Jiji left off, awkwardly pushing two teabags into the fairy-sized teapot. "Why don't we do this the old fashioned way, seeing as you lot can't seem to manage your own introductions. My name is Butler. I work for Artemis." He looked at Kokoro, seated on his left.

"Captain Kokoro, INARecon," said Kokoro, in a tone that spoke volumes on just how beneath her this all was.

"Major Holly Short, LEPrecon," Holly reeled off in a monotone. She brightened slightly when Butler passed her a mug of tea bearing the slogan 'Kappa joe?' over a picture of a grimacing _kappa_ holding a coffee pot.

"Artemis Fowl the Second." Artemis gave Holly a quick half-smile, "The brains of this operation."

Holly reached over and batted Artemis on the arm. "You're not doing yourself any favours, Fowl," she laughed.

Kokoro pursed her long lips. "So, physical abuse is alright, just not verbal?"

"No," said Holly. "It's not how he's abused, it's who does it. I can, you can't."

Kokoro said nothing, but her silence spoke volumes.

"After all," Holly continued breezily, flashing Artemis a smile, "there's got to be some sort of upside to having had to put up with him for so long."

Artemis cocked his head and looked at Holly consideringly, as though only just seeing her for the first time.

Jiji came back just in time to break the tension. "Lieutenant Kuromame Maeda, INAReconnaissance. I make the tea," the badger smiled around his cigar. "And this is—"

"Shancai!" Longnu's eyes widened. "You're awake!"

The fairy Jiji had brought in was handsome by anyone's standards, with a straight nose and large, thick-lashed eyes. His skin was paler than Holly's but his hair was a darker red, nearly black. He showed no emotion at Longnu's outburst.

"Yes," he said evenly, "I am. As are you, it seems. How nice of you to check in."

"Sorry, Shan, I had a vision. I had to go." Longnu bit her lip, looking almost embarrassed.

"Of course. I understand. I'm just glad you're safe." He didn't seem very glad. His face was shuttered and closed.

"Trouble in paradise?" Holly leaned over and whispered in Artemis' ear.

"Scandalous love triangle," he whispered back.

"Shan, I—"

"Don't bother, Longnu. Let's not fight. It's been so long. And last time I saw you, you were rather... distracted."

A blush rose in Longnu's cheeks. "Shan..."

"Um..." For the first time since they'd arrived, Kokoro looked hesitant. "Sorry to interrupt, but you're Longnu? As in _the_ Longnu?"

"I guess so?" Longnu sounded just as hesitant. "Unless there's more than one."

Kokoro got to her feet, coming forward with one hand outstretched. _It __really is popular these days_, thought Longnu, glad to be distracted. _Wha__t was wrong with the old kneel-and-bow routine? _

"This is _such_ an honour," the _kitsune_ smiled. "You were always a hero of mine when I was young."

"Thanks?" said Longnu, looking at a loss.

"How did you end up with that lot?" Kokoro asked jerking her head in Holly's direction.

"I had a vision," Longnu repeated, shrugging. "It led me to them. And, for what it's worth, I quite like the humans. Butler's a wonderful cook. I haven't eaten so well in millennia."

"To be fair," Butler said modestly, "you haven't eaten _anything_ in millennia."

"You always had such a soft spot for Mud Men." Shancai shook his head in cold disbelief. "You were as bad as Kannon."

Longnu frowned. "I was trying to be as _good_ as Kannon, if that's what you mean."

For the first time since he'd entered the room, an emotion flitted across Shancai's face. It wasn't a happy one. "Well, you two were certainly _trying_ something," he murmured, a sour smile settling on his face.

Longnu's frown deepened. "Why don't you just come out and say it? You always were a coward!"

"Oh, now I'm the coward, am I? Of all the—"

"For the love of Christ," muttered Butler. Louder, he said, "Could we all just pretend to get along for five minutes? Please? We have a job to do, remember?"

"You're her disciple, Shan. Show a little respect." Longnu glared at her fiancé.

"I'm not the one who was showing a lack of respect for—"

Artemis and Holly shared a look. He raised his eyebrows. She sighed, nodding reluctantly. "And it was just getting good," she muttered. Artemis chuckled quietly.

Holly stepped in between the two fairies, hands up to force the other two apart. "You know what the best part of all this is?" she asked, her voice forcibly chipper. "We know who kidnapped Kannon _and_ where to find them."

Now that she had everyone's attention, she lowered her hands. "Apparently Amaterasu and her brothers are holding Kannon captive in their family home just outside of Nara."

"And how, exactly, do you know this?" Kokoro looked down her long nose at Holly.

"I have my sources," Holly replied, smiling in a way strongly reminiscent of Artemis. "And Artemis has a plan, so all we really need is some personnel willing to follow orders."

"Excellent," said Jiji. The only person at ease in the room, he was sitting in an armchair with a plate of biscuits balanced on his knees and a mug of tea in one paw. "I love it when the work's done for us."

Kokoro glared at him over her shoulder. "A plan?" she asked dubiously.

"Yes," said Artemis. "I put the finishing touches to it during the ride here, having received all the - ah - details I needed. We'd best call Foaly now. He'll sulk if he's not kept abreast of any further developments."

Shancai frowned and stepped closer to Holly, as though to keep the others from hearing. "Surely we're not entrusting ourselves to the Mud Man, are we? Major Short, I'm quite confident that we could come up with something more than suitable. No need to involve humans." He smiled suddenly, his perfect teeth bright.

The effect was somewhat ruined by Longnu snorting loudly. Holly threw a smile over her shoulder at the other woman. "I appreciate the offer, Shancai, but, as I told Captain Kokoro, I'm the officer in charge and therefore we will be doing things my way. So, while I value everyone's input, Artemis and his plan stay. Now, if you'll excuse me, he's right: Foaly will sulk." And with that, she pushed past the other fairy and headed for the communications console.

* * *

"I thought you couldn't wait to work with Holly Short?" Kuromame spoke quietly as he cleared the mugs away.

Kokoro blew out her lips, slouching in her chair. "I couldn't. I can now."

"So I noticed."

"How could she, Jiji? I mean, just, how _could_ she? Humans! _That_ human. Does she have some sort of short-term memory loss? I read the reports of the Fowl siege, Argon's diagnosis, everything. They say he kept her locked up in his basement and tortured her. But now she jumps to his defence like he's some sort of gods-damned saint. What's the deal? Where's her dignity? It makes me want to puke."

"Well, try to hold it in, love; this upholstery is hell to clean." Kuromame stashed the dirty cups away in the washer. "Besides, you can't believe everything you read. And Argon's a load of hot air if you want my opinion. Did you read the reports on the goblin rebellion? Fowl helped them out there, that's for sure."

"No, he traded his help for theirs. Short and her Commander went to Russia for him. He doesn't do anything for free."

"Then why's he doing this? He certainly doesn't need to."

"That's my question exactly. Storing up his knowledge of Fairy procedure for when he betrays us to the humans? Using us to get his hands on fairy technology? Who knows?"

Jiji looked at her, disbelief clear on his face. "I think you're taking things a tad far there, Koko."

"He's a Mud Man, nothing is too far for them."

Kuromame Maeda looked at his Captain of the last decade and sighed. Relighting the last of his cigar, he told her, "Well, for your own sake, at least, couldn't you try to be a bit more polite?"

"For _my_ sake?" she echoed.

"You're a fantastic officer and I know that you're secretly a warm and cuddly individual, deep, deep down. I just wish you'd let other people know it too. You should let yourself have the odd friend, Koko."

"I do. I've got you, haven't I?"

"As flattering as that is for an old man..."

"I don't want them for friends, anyway," she said, grimacing.

"You sound like a child. And, be that as it may, _I_ want to get through this investigation without you or Major Short ripping each other limb from limb. Not to mention Fowl's bodyguard looks like he could take on a shuttle-bus and win. Lucky for you he's level-headed. I've trained you up so nice, if you were to get yourself killed I'd have to begin all over again."

Kokoro laughed. "Alright, alright, I'll tone it down." Her slender nose wrinkled in disgust. "But I'm not happy about it. And I still think his plan is dumb."

"Duly noted."

* * *

"So here we are."

"Look, I'm sorry, alright? I really am. I never wanted to hurt you."

"Oh, I'm not hurt. But you will be."

"And what's that supposed to mean? You know I hate it when you talk in riddles."

"She doesn't love you."

"How do you know?"

"Because you're not broken. You don't need her."

"Don't be ridiculous. And you _are_ hurt. This is a classic Shancai sulk."

He smiled bitterly. "Can you blame me? We were supposed to marry."

"It was a marriage of convenience and everybody knew it."

"So?"

"So what?"

"So what does that matter? She doesn't need you, but I do. I did."

"Don't, Shan. Our parents are dead, no one cares anymore if we play nice or not. Besides, I was always clear about how I felt."

"But you never acted on it before that."

"What difference does that make?"

"You would have grown to love me."

Longnu shook her head in disbelief. "If you believed the impossible then, there's no point in stopping now. I could yet, you never know."

"No," Shancai shook his head, watching the elf and her human talk on the steps below, watching the way they drew closer as they spoke, conspirators in some private world. "No, it's too late now."

* * *

"I have to say," Artemis kept his expression neutral, apparently watching Butler check the Prius for bombs, "you were rather ... territorial in there. I've never felt so well defended."

"Are you making fun of me, Artemis?" Holly asked him, craning her head up to peer at him from her seat on the bottom step of the shrine path.

"Yes," he told her, "but only to distract myself from the fact that I'm actually quite touched."

She clucked her tongue, standing up so that she could give his tie a gentle tug. Obligingly, he turned to face her. "You're my friend, Artemis. And I don't let other people badmouth my friends," she winked, still holding onto his tie, "that's my job."

Holly, Artemis reflected, liked to distract herself nearly as much as he did.

"It was kind of you," he said.

She smiled at him; a smile that widened when he returned it with one of his own. In amiable silence they watched the sun light play along the treetops and he reflected that this whole 'having friends' scheme really wasn't quite as overrated as he'd once thought.


	6. Espionage for Dummies

And finally things start moving! And I begin to take even bigger liberties with Buddhist and Shinto pantheons.  
Also, some shameless self-promotion: six months after creating a blog, I have finally figured out how to use it (yes, I am that inept) and will being posting more and more original fiction there as time goes on. NB. There will be a lull both there and here in June as I'll be back on the road for the month.  
The strange ffnet acceptable url: pohlisch-dot-wordpress-dot-com

As always, ilex-ferox has worked beta-ing magic.

* * *

**Chapter Five: Espionage for Dummies**

**6:18 am, May 4th, Kyoto  
**

"We're home!" Holly carolled, as she led the way into the hotel suite.

Silence was the only response. A beard hair still stuck in the picked lock, Mulch's hand cuffs hung limply amongst the dish towels.

"Oh no," Holly kept her face straight. "He's escaped. How did this happen. I'm shocked."

Artemis slanted a look of disbelief at the elf. Catching his eye, she gave him an impish grin.

* * *

**6:33 pm, May 4th, in the mountains west of Lake Biwa  
**

The plan was a simple one. Artemis, acknowledging some of the closer shaves of their past, had decided to stick to the basics. He could add flair as needed.

Standing on a wooded plateau above the Okami ancestral home, Artemis admired the castle complex from afar. It was a large wood and stone structure that, much like Fowl Manor, had been continuously added to over the centuries. Though smaller, it was similar in design to the famous Himeji Castle which, two hours east of them, had probably been swarming with tourists earlier that day. The steep, sloping roofs of its towers rose out of the surrounding trees with a grace Artemis believed to be entirely lacking from his family home. He found the sight of it, so serene and alien in the rugged mountain forests, oddly calming.

"We're up and running." Butler broke Artemis out of his reverie.

"Excellent." Cracking his knuckles, he turned away from the view and got ready to work.

After a long debate about lines of sight and ease of access, this plateau had been decided upon as their best bet for the operation's makeshift headquarters. They had flown in low, the belly of the shuttle brushing the treetops, and Holly had had the unenviable task of landing them in the tiny clearing just back from the edge of the plateau - one of the reasons this particular spot had been chosen was that it offered the only non-forested patch of ground available within walking distance of the castle. Invisible from below, they had an excellent view of the castle compound and the road leading to it.

Holly had complained the entire trip because the shuttle they had chosen was built for carrying cargo and was, as she put it, about as aerodynamic as a waterlogged troll. Butler, however, had thought it was one of the most comfortable rides he'd ever had on fairy transport. They had agreed to disagree. "But don't blame me if I take down half the forest landing this heap!" Holly had threatened. Artemis had said something placatory about her piloting abilities and she had smiled, pleased. They landed without a single broken branch.

At the moment, Holly was at the back of the shuttle, helping Longnu prepare, their heads bent close together as they talked. Further forward, Butler had set up a laptop on which they would stream iris-cam footage. A second laptop sat next to it, filled with Foaly's frowning face.

"For the record," said Foaly, "I don't like this plan."

"So you've said." Artemis bent over the other computer as if to check something.

"I feel it bears repeating. On record. Just in case."

"Don't worry, Foaly, if this comes crashing down around our ears—"

"As your plans so often do."

Artemis spared Foaly a glare. "—I will make it clear that you were nothing more than an unwitting collaborator as you were unable to come up with another solution for this mess."

Foaly once more put in his place, Artemis smiled and turned back to his computer.

* * *

Gently, Holly slid the iris-cam into place. Longnu blinked rapidly, a tear welling and falling.

"You'll get used to it," Holly assured her, unpeeling the protective backing from a throat mike and pressing the adhesive to Longnu's skin. In seconds, it was invisible.

Longnu nodded. "I feel like a spy," she commented.

"And so you should," said Holly with a grin.

"Will this really work?"

Holly paused in the midst of putting away the tech., then she nodded. "Artemis's plans always work. Eventually at any rate. You've nothing to worry about."

"You have a lot of faith in him." The other fairy's voice wasn't judgmental, merely factual.

Holly smiled wryly. "If you'd seen him do what I have, you would too."

"Are you sure he's trustworthy?"

"Yes," said Holly, without hesitating. "Well, I mean, no, not all the time. Not for the little things. But at the end of the day, yes. His heart's in the right place."

"That's what matters, I suppose," said Longnu. "We're none of us perfect."

"No," agreed Holly, "that we're not." Holly rummaged through an equipment bag, doing one last check. As she worked she asked, "What about Shancai?"

"Is he perfect?"

"Is he trustworthy?"

"Oh." Longnu let out her breath in a slow stream. "Yes. He's— yes, he is. At least... he was." Her voice faltered and she bit her lip.

"You don't seem too fond of him. I thought you two were engaged."

Longnu shrugged. "It was an arranged marriage. I – we – were mutually uninterested. At least, we were supposed to be. He was a womanizer when we first met, a first class prick. But towards the end he... he changed. But I still wasn't interested."

"Why not?"

"There was someone else."

"It happens."

"Yes, but... well, I think I may have actually hurt him in the end. I didn't realise it was possible, but he seems different now. More bitter. He used to be so carefree and irreverent. That was why I wrote him off, originally. He didn't make a good first impression."

Holly smiled at some personal joke. "First impressions are over-rated," she said.

* * *

An hour or so later, Artemis was, as much to his surprise as anyone else's, lying next to Holly in the scrub at the edge of the plateau. Beside them, Butler was peering through a pair of modified night-vision goggles, assessing the situation below.

"You know," Holly spoke reflectively, a finger tapping her lower lip, "when I said I would go in through the vents instead, I meant that hypothetically. It didn't mean that I was particularly _longing_ to crawl through ventilation shafts right at this very moment."

Artemis sighed, his face a picture of dismay. "Really? And here I was, thinking I was doing you a favour."

Holly rolled her eyes and punched his arm. "Well, it's the thought that counts, so I've been told."

He chuckled. "Luckily for me," he said.

"Everything's ready."

Kokoro's voice behind them distracted the threesome. The _kitsune _had on a wing rig and a nasty-looking Magma Z100 (a gun Holly personally found too showy) in her shoulder holster. She had no helmet due to the shape of her head but had been rigged out with a mike, ear-piece, and iris-cam. Despite her high-tech battle garb, she didn't look any happier than she had that morning.

"Are you set?" Holly rolled gracefully to her feet as Artemis scrambled up awkwardly to join the fairies.

Longnu, to whom Holly had directed her question, nodded. "As set as I'll ever be, I guess."

"Now remember," said Artemis, "don't spook them. You're there because you're desperately worried for your mistress."

"Shouldn't be too difficult," Shancai said, his arms crossed. "Amaterasu knows you're _desperate_ for—"

"_Shan_—"

Holly cleared her throat and both fairies quieted.

"Thank you, Major," said Artemis. "Now, Longnu, once you have Kannon's location inside the castle, we will follow the tracker in your iris cam and join you."

"Don't worry, Mud Man, I know what to do," Longnu grinned wolfishly, showing her teeth. Artemis was reminded of the dragon he had first met.

"If we're all done here?" Kokoro said pointedly.

Artemis raised his eyebrows at Holly. She nodded. "Quite finished," he said. "Take care, Holly."

Following Longnu's example, the elf grinned at him before her visor slid down, hiding her face. With one last wave, she and Kokoro rose into the air, their bodies arching across the night sky away towards the castle.

As Longnu disappeared down the mountain side, the four remaining conspirators stood for a moment, an awkward silence descending.

Artemis cleared his throat. "How long have you known Captain Kokoro, Lieutenant?"

"Oh, Jiji, please," the badger waved a paw. "About seventy years."

Artemis raised his eyebrows. "You've been working together for seventy years?"

"Oh gods, no," Jiji chuckled. "And don't let Koko hear you say that, she's barely a hundred. No, I adopted her after... after she was orphaned. I… uh, I was the one that found her."

"I see. I'm sorry."

"Ah well, it was seventy years ago."

"How did they die?"

Jiji wagged a claw at Artemis. "Nice try, human," he chuckled good-naturedly. "You know she doesn't want me talking about it. You'll just have to ask her."

"I'll just have to be content not knowing, you mean," Artemis smiled in turn.

"Basically."

"Doesn't it bother you that she's now your captain?"

"Frond, no. You think I want all that paperwork? I made the mistake of rising to Captain at my last job – it's not one I'll make again. I've been an INARe lieutenant since 1967. No reason to stop now!" He patted his stomach as he laughed.

"What was your last job?"

Shancai narrowed his eyes at Artemis, stepping up next to Jiji. "So many questions, human – are you writing a book?"

"No." Artemis shrugged, his voice even. "I'm merely curious. It's one of my many failings, I'm afraid."

"Curiosity killed the dwarf," Shancai warned.

"So Holly is fond of telling me," replied Artemis.

"Ah, leave the kid alone," said Jiji. "It won't do any harm. I was with the INAMed before Recon. Emergency response, that sort of thing."

"Thank you," Artemis smiled. "I solemnly swear not to use that information against you."

Jiji laughed, pulling a cigar out his breast pocket. "You're something else, boy. Where on earth did that Major find you?"

Artemis smiled thinly, not really appreciating the label. "Technically speaking, I believe I found her."

"Somehow that doesn't come as a surprise," said Shancai.

Before Artemis could respond, Foaly's voice came over the speakers.

* * *

Holly and Kokoro had a relatively straightforward job. They landed silently on the highest peak of the castle's many square turrets and flipped off the over-hanging lip of the roof onto the window sill below. Holly slipped an omnitool off her belt and jimmied open the lock.

Shielded, she went in first.

"It's strange, you know, that the oriental fairies never developed shields." Foaly chose that moment to join in on the fun.

Holly, by now used to hearing voices in her head, or at least in her helmet, ignored him, sweeping the room for a security camera. The last thing he needed was encouragement.

"I suppose that they were pretty cut off back in the day - from the rest of us, I mean. Never have been known for their _wanderlust_, that's for sure."

The camera was above the door. Still ignoring her aural hanger-on, Holly rose to the ceiling and attached one of Foaly's bugs to the tiny camera's wiring.

"There," she said, satisfied. "Work your magic, Foaly."

The sound of keys clacking came through her helmet's speakers. "Done and done, Holly. I'm running a ten second loop that should keep them out of your hair for a few hours at least."

"Good. I just hope Mulch is right about these cameras."

"Oh, he is," Foaly assured her. "By the looks of things they're Mud Man-made circa 1997. Still in black and white. Frond, it's just sad really. And the Mud Men thought it was a huge deal at the time, the silly buggers. I honestly wonder sometimes how humans have managed to cause so much trouble when they're just so ... well, _dumb_."

"You know, Foaly," Artemis's cool voice broke in, "Butler and I _can_ hear you."

"I'm not really sure I appreciate being called a 'silly bugger'," Butler added.

"I didn't mean _you guys_, jeeze—"

"People!" snapped Holly, breaking her calm, "Seriously, this is _my_ helmet. If you lot want to have yourselves a tea party be my guests. Just do it in someone else's head!"

"Holly—"

"I was simply—"

"Of course—"

"_Guys_!"

"Right, yes, sorry."

Abruptly, she had radio silence.

Holly turned back to Kokoro. The _kitsune_ was still crouched on the window sill, just out of the camera's reach. The elf waved her in.

She hopped to the floor, tugging one ear pensively. For a moment, Holly thought she looked nearly sad.

"Sorry about that," Holly raised her visor. "They like to chat."

"That must be nice," Kokoro said, her voice unusually soft.

"Um... well, yes. I suppose it is. Most of the time." Holly shrugged, unsure of what to say. "So, we're waiting here until we hear from Artemis, then?"

"Seems like."

"Right."

The two fairies sat on either side of the window without saying a word.

"Shouldn't be long now," said Holly.

"No, not long," agreed Kokoro.

"Right."

The silence stretched on. Holly blew her fringe out of her eyes and cast around for something to say. She settled on the obvious. "What do you think of Longnu and Shancai?"

Kokoro hesitated and Holly wondered if the _kistune_ would chastise her for gossiping. She didn't. "I think he's in love with her."

"Really?"

Kokoro nodded. "He keeps a picture of her – a paper picture, no less, the kind the Mud Men have – tucked into his shirt pocket. I've caught him looking at it when he thinks he's alone. He's not that good an actor."

"Longnu says he was a womanizer."

"Oh, he is," said Kokoro. "He tried it out on me briefly. But it was half-hearted. I think it may just be a reflex he hasn't lost yet."

"And Longnu's in love with someone else. That can't be fun."

"My money's on Kannon. He only gets mean when Longnu brings her up."

"I can't imagine Kannon getting involved in some kind of tryst with an engaged fairy. I mean, she's supposed to be so... so..."

"Nobody's perfect," Kokoro pointed out.

"I suppose not." Holly pondered this for a moment. "Well, it would make for an extremely awkward working relationship, if that's the case."

"No kidding."

"Poor guy," said Holly.

"It'd be tough," agreed Kokoro with a wry half-smile. Before she realised what she was doing, Holly had returned it with one of her own.

* * *

Longnu walked up to the enormous wooden doors. They were beautifully carved. The left door showed how Amaterasu's parents, Izanagi and Izanami, had used a magic spear to stir the waters of the world and create the islands of Japan from the droplets of water that slipped from the spear's tip; the right showed Izanagi fleeing Izanami's rage after his failed attempt to save her from the underworld. Like Orpheus in the dark, he had looked back.

_Men_, thought Longnu. _They never could stay focussed. _She raised a hand and hefted the over-sized brass knocker.

A _kappa_, the dip in his head full of water, opened the door. His scaly green skin reflected the cloudy sunlight.

"I've come for my mistress," said Longnu. Her voice was steady. "I've come for Kannon."

"Then you've come to the right place. Let the pilgrim in, Hiroki, no need to be rude." A beautiful voice came from inside. It was low and rich and mocking. It sent shivers up Longnu's spine. For the first time, she felt a tingle of apprehension.

The _kappa_ butler stepped aside, gesturing for her to come in. Longnu did.

"I'm afraid he doesn't talk much. Still bitter about the whole "indentured servant" thing. They're such a grouchy race. It's not as though_ I _came up with that ridiculous curse, anyway."

"You didn't have to bow to him," Longnu pointed out. She stared at the ground, unwilling to look up at the speaker.

"Well," the voice huffed, "he didn't have to bow back. The idiots never learn. They bow, the water in their heads falls out, they are frozen there until the water is replaced. Evolution wasn't kind to them. I just replaced the water. What anyone would do."

"His eternal servitude was just a fortunate side effect, I suppose."

"Something like that," the voice purred. "Come here, Longnu. You haven't aged a day, you lucky thing. You know, I was always so jealous of Kannon, having you following her about everywhere, fawning all over her. And she never gave you a second thought, did she? Poor dear, you were so in love. What Shan's parents must have thought!"

Longnu swallowed. "Don't talk about things you don't understand, Amaterasu."

"It's like old times, really," Amaterasu continued as though she hadn't heard. "Here you are, running after Kannon, tripping over your hem to get her to notice you. Take my advice, darling, and lose a limb or something. Kannon's only interested in the people she can fix."

Longnu looked up at last, caught off guard by the familiarity of the warning. She regretted it the minute she did. Amaterasu was not easy to look at, largely because it was even harder to look away again. For most people it was a matter of shock value, but she was known to make liberal use of the Mesmer when her looks weren't enough to captivate her audience.

The only light came from a line of paper lanterns that ran along the ceiling, reflecting off the dark, polished wood of the floors and the gilded rice paper walls. In the middle of the hall stood Amaterasu. Her white hair glowed eerily in the golden light. It fell straight and long, coiling in a pool around her bare feet. Like a _kitsune_, she had a long, fox-like tail, and then eight more besides, but her face was similar to an elf's, with high cheekbones and a wide forehead. Her yellow eyes were flecked with green and held Longnu's gaze without blinking.

Idly, Amaterasu picked up one of her nine fox tails and began to play with the white tip of it. She was used to being looked at.

Longnu looked away, pinching the bridge of her nose. She'd forgotten how tiring she found Amaterasu. Amaterasu never came out and just said anything, but she would hint at it until you were ready to strangle her. Strangle her, or give up and let her do as she wished. Her brothers were easy to fight with. Violent and crude, yes, but always the same. Amaterasu was a moving target. Suddenly, Longnu felt all the years of her life weigh down on her. They had all lived so long, come so far, and yet here they were, still bickering like petty children. Longnu wondered if any of them, herself included, would ever grow up.

"Just bring me to Kannon, Ama." Longnu's voice was tired. "Just let me see her. Please. I need to know she's safe."

"And what will you do for me?" Amaterasu smiled, looking up through her lashes.

"Whatever you like, Ama," said Longnu. "So long as she's kept safe."

Amaterasu smiled, licking her dark lips. "Well, I'm sure I could think of something," she said, taking a step forward.

"Who the hell is that?"

Amaterasu sighed. "Tsuki," she said, "you have arrived at precisely the wrong moment, as per usual."

Amaterasu's brother, Tsukuyomi, stepped into the hall, sliding the paper panel shut behind him. "Ama, we don't have time for one of your flings. Pay her and get her out of here."

Amaterasu pouted. "Longnu's much too moral to sell herself for mere money, aren't you, darling?"

"Longnu?" Tsuki frowned at his sister. "Wait, wasn't that Kannon's— aw hell, Ama. I'm wearing my new shirt. I don't want to get blood on this. Why didn't you kill her already? I'm not doing it dressed like this."

"You always were a thug, Tsuki," said Longnu bitterly. "And you couldn't kill me if you tried."

"Want to bet, bi—"

"Shut up, Tsuki." Amaterasu wound a finger through her hair, looking utterly bored by her brother. "Longnu and I have made a deal. Don't worry, she won't get in the way."

Tsukuyomi did not look convinced.

"Come on, Longnu, I'll take you down to your precious mistress. We keep her in the great hall. Only fitting, don't you think? Hiroki, you're coming with us. We wouldn't want you to get any ideas, would we, Longnu?"

"I promised, didn't I?" said Longnu.

"So you did, darling. But I've never kept a promise in my life, so you'll have to forgive me if I have little faith in them." Amaterasu slipped her hand into Longu's. "Shall we?"

"I'm coming too." Tsuki laid an eloquent hand on the shiny Neutrino 4200 strapped to his hip.

Longnu and Amaterasu both rolled their eyes.

* * *

The screen was split into four. One quarter was taken up by the video feed from Longnu's iris-cam, one by Holly's, one by Kokoro's, and the last by Foaly's face and the various vegetables he was consuming. The centaur kept up a running stream of commentary throughout Longnu's encounter with Amaterasu. Artemis was glad they had elected to only give the fairy a mike.

"Seriously," Foaly was saying now, "this Amaterasu character is just scary. She looks like she's about to eat Longnu at any minute."

"It's a pity Longnu didn't go in as a dragon," added Butler. "She'd be a lot less tasty that way."

"I was talking metaphorically," said Foaly.

"So was I," said Butler.

"Fair," agreed Foaly. "Seriously, with friends like that, who needs enemies!"

"You should have let me go instead," said Shancai as he stared at the screen. "Ama gets under Longnu's skin too easily; she used to make fun of her endlessly. Didn't Longnu tell you?"

"No," said Butler. "She forgot to mention that."

"You should have let me go instead," Shancai repeated himself.

"Amaterasu doesn't get under your skin?" Butler asked the obvious question.

"Of course she does, she gets under everyone's skin. But she used to have a thing for Longnu and now she's bitter about it. If anything, she'd be inclined to sympathise with me."

"Does everyone in this country have a 'thing' for Longnu?" Artemis wondered aloud. Shancai said nothing, only pursed his lips. In the light of the screens his face was unreadable.


	7. Metamorphoses

Beta-ing thanks go, as always, to ilex-ferox.

* * *

**Chapter Six: Metamorphoses**

**7:17pm, May 4th, Okami family estate, the forests west of Lake Biwa**

A chime sounded as they descended into the bowels of the castle. Amaterasu fished a communicator from the depths of her kimono.

"What?" She didn't bother being polite. "Already? Right, I'll tell him. No, you'll let him go. Because I said so. Good. Don't screw this up."

She stuffed the communicator back into the folds of her clothes. "As much as I love and appreciate your company, Tsuki, you've got to go."

"What? Why?"

"Do you remember that thing that we discussed earlier? The package that would be arriving? Remember?"

"The package— the oh, right. Yes. _The package_. Already?"

"Already."

"Fine. But don't get distracted." He jutted his chin at Longnu.

"Go away, Tsuki."

"Whatever." The fairy turned on his heel and went back the way they'd come.

* * *

When the call came that Longnu was in and on the move, Kokoro did something that even Holly found impressive. She cracked her neck, shrugged her shoulders, and transformed into a _kappa_.

"Wow," said Holly, unable to keep her cool. "You look just like one."

"Thanks." Eerily, Kokoro's voice still sounded the same. "Magical creatures are easier. Theory is we have more of an affinity for them. Though, Mud Men aren't so bad either and there's no affinity there."

Holly let that pass, too caught up in the magic. "I'd always heard about shape-shifting but this is the first time I've ever seen it." Holly's left hand rose slightly, then fell back to her side.

Kokoro sighed. "It's okay, you can touch me if you want. Foreigners always do the first time."

Eagerly, Holly ran her fingers down Kokoro's arm. "You even _feel_ real," she marvelled.

"Of course. We used to take human lovers, back in the day. It'd get awkward in a hurry if we didn't feel real."

"That's amazing," breathed Holly. "You can all do that? Only our warlocks can back home."

"I've heard rumours that you Occidentals can learn to do this with enough effort, just like we can learn to shield. It's just no one ever bothers. For most purposes being invisible or blending in amounts to the same thing."

Holly was going to reply but the sound of footsteps came on the stairs below them. With one last poke at Kokoro's arm, she shielded, disappearing entirely. And not a moment too soon.

"Oy, what are you doing all the way up here?" Tsukuyomi burst into the room, already growling.

"Just doing my rounds, sir," mumbled Kokoro, lowering her voice to a _kappa_'s grumble.

Tsuki squinted at her, as though unable to recall precisely who she was. Kokoro kept her eyes on the ground, as a _kappa_ servant would.

"Ama was right," said Tsuki and, without warning, he swept his arm up and hit her square in the midriff. Winded, she stumbled, doubling over, her disguise flickering in and out of existence. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Holly hit the opposite wall and crumple to the floor, neutrino in one hand. _Hell_, thought Kokoro, _he must have hit her with his back hand by accident_. And then: _Why do the assholes always have all the luck? _

"Bloody _kitsune_," muttered Tsuki, grabbing Kokoro by the throat and pinning her against a wall. Holly had landed in the shadows of a corner and he hadn't spotted her yet, too intent on Kokoro.

"Alright, alright," gasped Kokoro. "You got me, you prick. Let me breathe."

"You're just lucky Ama wants you alive," said Tsuki. "Now where's the other one?"

"What other one?" Kokoro felt ill. How did he know? Someone must have sold them out, she realised. Grinding her teeth, she swore to murder that snotty Mud Man when this was all over. Presuming she was still around when it was all over.

"You're supposed to have a partner. He said there were two of you." Tsuki made as though to turn and look and Kokoro, in desperation, kicked him between the legs.

"You bitch," he wheezed, still keeping her pinned against the wall.

"Well, obviously," she retorted. Tsukuyomi had clearly been watching too much American television. He'd forgotten what the word meant. "And I'm all there is, so you're going to have to settle for me, I'm afraid."

"Fine," he coughed, clutching himself. "I wouldn't want more than bloody one of you. Oh Gods."

Fingers tight around her throat, he marched her out of the room and down the stairs, moaning the entire way down.

She didn't look back.

* * *

"Well, this isn't good," said Foaly.

"No, really," Butler deadpanned, "I hadn't realised."

"Behave, you two," said Artemis, his eyes flicking between the feed of three different iris-cams. "Foaly, is there some way you can wake up Holly? She needs to shield before she's seen."

Something clicked behind Artemis and he was vaguely aware of Butler leaving his side but his eyes didn't move from the screen until he heard the sounds of a definite struggle.

Slowly, Artemis turned to face his colleagues. "Gentlemen," he said, lacing his fingers together, "is this really the time?"

"You betrayed us!" Despite being dangling from Butler's choke-hold, Jiji was still valiantly trying to reach the gun Butler had taken from him. Butler looked mildly impressed.

Artemis sighed. "I did no such thing, Lieutenant Maeda. You've got the wrong man, as the saying goes."

"Well, who then? Who else? I can't believe this! I trusted you! I should have listened to Koko." Jiji glared at Artemis, still struggling.

"Hardly," replied Artemis, smoothing his tie unnecessarily. "Being an informant would involve being someone else's subordinate. I _have_ subordinates, not vice versa."

"You really are an arrogant little shit, aren't you?"

"Without a doubt. At the moment, however, I am also an honest one. But—"

"Not necessarily."

"I beg your pardon?" Artemis turned to Shancai,

The fairy looked up at the human, remarkably calm all things considered. "I said 'not necessarily'. You could be in charge of this whole thing. Ama and her brothers could be your pawns and not you theirs. How do we know?"

Artemis pinched the bridge of his nose. "What on earth would I gain from kidnapping Kannon? Please, educate me, I'm dying to know."

Shancai smiled thinly. "I've no idea what you Mud Men hold valuable. I'm only saying that you wouldn't necessarily have to be their subordinate. You could be the ringleader."

"And you could also be distracting us from your own suitability as a candidate for treachery. Jealousy is one of the oldest motives. However," Artemis' voice was quelling, "none of this is furthering our cause. I'm afraid we're going to have to agree to disagree. Butler put down the _tanuki._" At Butler's blank look, Artemis waved at Jiji. "The Lieutenant, Butler. Put down the Lieutenant."

Butler did so, but kept the gun. Jiji straightened his clothes, still glaring. "If anything happens to Kokoro—"

"How about a deal, Maeda," Artemis smiled toothily. "If Holly gets out of this unharmed, so will your Captain."

Jiji sighed, his face growing suddenly tired. He patted his breast pocket, drawing out the remains of his earlier cigar. "You're right, Mud Man. This isn't helping anyone. I'll be good. I just... I worry."

Artemis nodded briskly, shooting his cuffs. "As do we all. Right now, however, the plan needs to be adapted. Foaly, how is Holly?"

"I gave her a little shock so she's awake again, but she's not happy."

"Well, I wasn't expecting miracles," said Artemis, and turned his attention back to the computer screen. He frowned. "Captain Kokoro's screen is black."

"While you guys were having your little _contretemps_, Tsukuyomi removed Captain Kokoro's iris-cam and mike," 2Foaly explained.

"Well," said Artemis philosophically, his eyes flicking to Shancai and back, "whoever the leak is, at least we know they're detail-oriented."

"Hip hip hurray," came Foaly's sarcastic reply.

* * *

Amaterasu talked as she led Longnu through the castle. She talked as if they were old friends. Longnu did her best to ignore her and focussed on trying to keep the butterflies in her stomach to a few dozen and not an entire rabble. She made a note of their route, not for her co-conspirators – they would be able to follow the iris cam's footage at their leisure – but just in case things didn't go to plan and she needed to get out on her own. Best to be prepared.

"—don't you think?"

"Definitely," agreed Longnu, without any idea what Amaterasu was asking.

The other fairy sighed. "You're not listening at all, are you? I'm trying to be polite, you know. You should feel flattered, my dear, that doesn't come naturally to me."

"You don't need to tell me that," said Longnu, a little of her natural vigour re-surfacing.

"Well, one can't be menacing and cruelly witty all the time, can one? It really takes it out of a girl."

Longnu smiled despite herself.

"That's more like it," said Amaterasu. "You never were one for all of that serious contemplation nonsense. Loosen up, darling. Smell the flowers. It's been centuries since you've even seen flowers, for Frond's sake. Don't waste the opportunity. Though," Amaterasu tapped her lip in feigned contemplation, "I suppose you already have, haven't you? It'll be some time before you're seeing any flowers again, I'm afraid."

Longnu sighed. "Just take me to Kannon, Ama."

Amaterasu made a retching sound. "Love! How terribly dull. I'm surprised it hasn't been banned yet to be honest. Just think of all the drivelling poems it's responsible for. And how it turns perfectly interesting, intelligent people into boring marshmallows. It _really_ ought to be banned. And Kannon of all people! She's going to suck all the life right out of you if you're not careful. Even that idiot Shan would be better," Amaterasu waved a hand to underline her point as, with the other, she slid open a rice paper door. "How is he by the way? Such an attractive fairy, I really can't understand why you didn't marry him right away. And rich too no less. You're looking a gift toad in the mouth, my dear, you really are."

Behind the door was an enormous hall. The walls here were made of plaster and looked much sturdier than their paper counterparts. High above, between the heavy wooden beams of the ceiling, a handful of skylights provided dim lighting for the hall's few occupants.

Longnu caught her breath and Amaterasu's diatribe was lost to her. At the far end of the hall sat Kannon cross-legged on the floor. Her arms arched up around her many heads, her faces golden and peaceful. Her uplifted hands nearly brushed the ceiling.

"Kannon!" Longnu laughed as she ran toward her mistress, blind to all else. Still standing in the doorway, Amaterasu made a face, having been interrupted halfway through a sentence.

But Longnu didn't get far. Susano, Amaterasu's chunky younger brother, hefted himself out of his chair and grabbed her by the back of her kimono before she got more than a few feet.

"Get off, Susano!" Longnu writhed and twisted as he drew her in, clamping a hairy arm around her waist. "D'Arvitting pig, get off! _Kannon_!" She bit his arm and he roared, throwing her off. She stumbled, slipped, and spat blood, but righted herself fast enough to escape Susano's second grab at her clothes. "Kannon!" she called again as she ran.

Two _kappas_ came away from the walls and tried to tackle her but, in one fluid movement, she was a dragon once more, and slipped through their webbed hands.

Amaterasu watched all this drama with one eyebrow arched, clearly unimpressed.

"Kannon!" Letting her dragon form fall away, Longnu collided with Kannon's shin. "I'm here, I've come for you. I'm sorry it took so long for..." She trailed off when the statue said nothing.

Longnu leaned against the cool gold of Kannon's leg and tried to grip the unresponsive metal with her small hands. "Kannon?" she called, her voice faltering. "Kannon?"

From behind her came the sound of a slow clap. She turned, one hand still grasping at Kannon's slippery metal skin. Hiruko, Amaterasu's third and last brother was reclining in a cushioned deck chair, wearing a Hawaiian print shirt in a truly horrendous shade of magenta. Next to him, an enormous spear stood upright in a tall ceramic vase. Also, coincidentally, a hideous shade of magenta. His left arm had an IV stuck into it and a glowing blue substance flowed from him to the spear. Longnu hadn't even seen him in her haste to get to Kannon.

"You never did look before you leapt," Hiruko drawled.

"Why isn't she answering me?" Longnu was too upset to bother being witty.

"Because she's still bloody meditating, that's why. The damn girl's been as useful as an oversized garden gnome since we brought her here. It's a good thing she's so pretty or I'd have melted her down and sold her."

Longnu bared her teeth at him, scales beginning to form on her face and arms. Her hands curved into claws but, before she could do anything, Susano caught her from behind, clamping her arms to her sides.

"For Frond's sake, Susie!" Longnu spat. "I'll rip your—"

"Do shut up, darling." Amaterasu interrupted Longnu's furious spluttering. She gestured to the _kappa_ guards; they came forward with a coil of rope and bound Longnu's wrists and arms together. "Now that the hellos are quite out of the way, let's get down to business. Hook her up, Susie."

"Stop _calling_ me that," grouched her brother as he hefted Longnu easily over his shoulder. 'Don't call me that' was, famously, the only full sentence most people had ever heard him say. Longnu rolled her eyes even as she was carried like a sack of potatoes. She had been right: some things never change.

She wriggled under Susano's arm but knew it was useless. She could feel magic running through the ropes and swore quietly under her breath. It would keep her from transforming so long as the ropes bound her. She wasn't particularly surprised, however - it was a common spell. Or at least it had been back in her day. Even some of the Mud Men had known it. It had broken up many a _kitsune_-human romance.

Hiruko unhooked himself from the IV and put a clean tip on it. Once Susano had dropped her into the lounge chair, Hiruko jabbed it into the sensitive flesh of her inner elbow.

"Ow!" she yelled. "Frond, Hiruko! Talk about bedside manner, _gods_."

"Ah, Longnu," he smiled, ruffling her dark hair. She bared her teeth at him. "You haven't changed a bit. You still fancy her, Ama? She's certainly aged well."

Amaterasu sighed in mock regret, looking down at their bound captive. "If only my love was as pure and steady as hers." She shot a smile at her brother. "Then again, where's the fun in that?"

Hiruko cackled. "Ah, I missed you Longnu. Just look at this face," he took Longnu's chin between his thumb and forefinger and shook her head back and forth. "Isn't it adorable? Always so earnest and dumb."

Longnu glared at him.

"Well, she used to be fun," Amaterasu complained. "Do you remember when she got stuck in that bottle and tried to eat Shancai when he let her out?" The brother and sister shared a nostalgic laugh.

"But that was before Kannon got her hooks into her," said Hiruko.

"No need to remind me." Batting away her brother's hand, Amaterasu knelt down at Longnu's side. Surprisingly gently, she felt the other fairy's neck until she found the flesh-toned mike. She peeled it off and moved on to the iris-cam - popping the lens out of Longnu's eye with delicate fingers. "Hiroki!" she called to her _kappa_ servant when she had finished. "Make yourself useful and dispose of these."

Wordlessly, the fairy came forward and took away the tech.

Her face once more her own, Longnu turned away from the siblings and watched with fascinated horror as her magic began to seep from her body, up through the IV, and into the spear.

"We're going to drain you dry, my dear," said Amaterasu as she rose to her feet. "You're to play a vital role in all this. Aren't you thrilled?"

Looking back at Amaterasu, Longnu rolled her eyes again. "To bits," she replied.

"That's the spirit, darling. I'm afraid I must leave you now, though. Play nice with the boys, won't you?" Amaterasu chuckled and turned, heading for the door.

Susano gave Longnu a once over and grunted in what she could only assume was satisfaction. Wandering away, he began to do push ups on the far side of the hall.

As she listened to Susano grunting and the soft grumbling conversation of the _kappas_, Longnu sighed. The night sky was visible through the skylights and, as she craned her neck to see it, she wondered: _How on earth will I get out of this one? _

"So," said Hiruko, unfolding another lounge chair and settling himself in it. Once comfortable, he steepled his hands on his stomach. "Anything you want to share with old Hiruko?"

Longnu closed her eyes. It was going to be a long night.


	8. Choosing Sides

Sorry for the wait guys! I've been on the road (again).

Three cheers for ilex-ferox, master beta.

* * *

**Chapter Seven: Choosing Sides**

**8:13pm, May 4th, Okami estate**

Holly awoke with a groan. Pressing the heel of her hand to her forehead, she slowly eased herself up.

"Foaly?"

"Right here, Sleeping Beauty."

"Did you really have to shock me awake, Foaly?"

"Hey, time waits for no fairy. Well, unless you're a warlock halfway through a time-stop or a—"

"Foaly."

"Right, sorry. Uh, what were we talking about?"

"What happened after I got hit?"

"Well, let's see. Do you remember Tsukuyomi barging in?"

"Yes. He got me with his backhand. I had my helmet on though, I shouldn't've been knocked out like that."

"Mm, yes, well... these things happen."

Holly narrowed her eyes. "What aren't you telling me, Foaly?" She could hear the sound of a carrot meeting its demise.

"Nothing important and you really ought to—"

"Foaly!"

"The helmet malfunctioned on impact, short circuited, and shocked you. That's why you went out. I reactivated it remotely." His words came out in a rush, as though he had momentarily forgotten she was a thousand miles away and couldn't punch him in the knees.

Holly groaned. "No wonder my headache is so bad. Now what am I supposed to do? It's useless to me if it's going to knock me out every time I get hit, but I can't leave it here."

"That's possibly the least of your worries. Someone has tipped these guys off; Tsukuyomi knew you'd be here. He caught Kokoro. At some point they stripped her of her iris-cam and everything so I can't track even her. All I know is that she was headed downstairs. We can't know for sure where he's taken her because we've—"

"Disabled the security cameras?"

"Exactly."

Holly swore. "Why can't anything ever go to plan? Just once? I mean _honestly_. Look, Foaly, I'm going to leave my helmet shielded and stash it up here. I'd rather do that than risk getting knocked out at inconvenient times."

"But then you won't be able to hear me! And what if someone finds it!"

"I'm sure you'll survive without me for half an hour, don't worry. Besides, I've still got my communicator on me if it's absolutely necessary. And you can always activate the self-destruct. I know how much you like doing that." She didn't wait for the centaur to reply before slipping off the helmet, activating its camfoil, and leaving it in a corner. She looked down at the invisible helmet as a mother would look at a misbehaving child. "Try not to do anything stupid before I get back," she told it.

She left the room, shielded, took the stairs three at a time, and arrived in a long hallway. Looking both ways, she shrugged and turned left. She went down every staircase she came across, hoping to reach ground level.

The halls' dark wooden floors reflected the dim overhead lights and Holly skirted the reflections, not wanting to block the light. She was on edge, feeling naked without her helmet. The walls were all made of papered panels and she strained to hear anything other than the heavy empty silence. Sometimes, she would imagine she heard voices and freeze, one hand going to her gun. But it was always nothing.

* * *

Longnu could feel herself weakening. She let her head loll back, not bothering to put on a show of strength. No one cared anyway. The _kappas_ by the door leaned back against the wall, clearly bored, and, in a corner, Hiruko and Susano were playing an intense game of Kappa-Sprite-Dwarf. They were on their third deck of cards and bets were high. From what Longnu could see, Susano was winning: Hiruko was swearing with steadily increasing frequency.

Next to her, the spear sat in its holder, its pulsing glow growing brighter as her magic bled into it. Kannon sat, still and golden, just out of her reach. Longnu studied her mistress's serene face. _Of all the times to sleep in, _thought Longnu.

Feigning a fatigue she knew would be on her soon enough, she closed her eyes and slumped in her chair. She let Hiruko's swearing and Susano's self-satisfied grunts fade away, falling deeper and deeper into her mind. When everything was still and quiet, she reached out to Kannon. Once upon a time they had been so close that they had been able to walk in and out of each other's minds at will. The idea that that connection had at last been broken scared Longnu even more than whatever Amaterasu's half-baked scheme was; even more than her violent, obnoxious brothers. But, like Hiruko's swearing and Susano's self-satisfied grunts, she let her fears fade away.

_Kannon, _she called out into the dark. _Kannon, are you there?_

* * *

Holly felt like she had been walking for days before she finally had a stroke of pure dumb luck. She nearly ran into Amaterasu. Literally. The other fairy came striding out from the next room, shoving a sliding panel roughly out of her way and then back again behind her. Invisible though she was, Holly pressed herself flat against the opposite wall. Tails swishing from underneath her kimono, Amaterasu strode away in the direction Holly had been heading. Holly didn't pause to think before scrambling after her.

Amaterasu led her down another hall, more stairs, and into what seemed to be the cellars. Here the walls were stone and as solid as the ones above were flimsy. Amaterasu came to a stop outside a heavy wooden door with a keypad and two bored-looking _kappa _guards. She waved them away and punched in the code. The door swung open and Holly, careful not to step on any tails, skipped in before Amaterasu closed it behind her. Silently, she turned on her communicator.

"Hello, Kokoro," said Amaterasu.

The _kitsune_ looked up. Under the bright light of a bare bulb, the bars of her cell threw long stark shadows across her face.

"Lucky me," sneered Kokoro. "I get to see the whole family, do I?"

"I hope not, for your sake," said Amaterasu as she approached the cell. "Hiruko and Susano have even fewer social graces than Tsuki."

"Charming," replied her prisoner.

For a moment, the two fairies contemplated each other through the bars of the cell.

"I've seen photos of you," murmured Amaterasu, her lovely voice rolling from her like waves, filling the room, softening its harsh lines. "They don't do you justice."

"I'm flattered, I'm sure." Kokoro wanted to look away, but found that she couldn't.

The sun-goddess smiled. "Don't you get bored being so cantankerous all the time? I do. It takes an awful lot of energy."

"I'm only cantankerous when I want to be." Kokoro's thin, hand-like paws curled around the bars of her cell.

"Well, you needn't be with me, my dear. I'm on your side."

"I don't have a side."

Amaterasu slipped a hand through the bars and stroked Kokoro's cheek. "We all have a side, darling."

"Don't touch me." Kokoro snapped her long fox's jaw, but her teeth snicked shut on empty air as Amaterasu's fingers disappeared back through the bars.

"Such an angry girl," said Amaterasu, almost wistfully. "And why would that be, do you think? Because of what happened to your family, perhaps?"

Kokoro raised a paw to her cheek, backing away from the fairy before her. "What do you know about my family?" Her face was rigid, but whether it was from anger or sorrow wasn't clear.

"I know everything about you." Amaterasu smiled. When she smiled it was impossible to look away from her. Kokoro had heard stories of how beautiful she was, but she had always dismissed them with a snarky remark about men thinking with things other than their brains. It was harder to dismiss what was staring you in the face. "Come here, Koko, you needn't be afraid." Amaterasu's lovely voice grew softer still. "Come here. I'm not going to hurt you. You've been hurt enough already, haven't you?"

"I'm fine where I am, thanks." But the words came out rough and uneven. She was slightly breathless. The room seemed to shrink until Amaterasu was all there was in it; Amaterasu, and her voice like the tide, deep and low and inescapable.

"Kokoro," Amaterasu stretched out her hand. "Come here."

_She's mesmerising me_, realised Kokoro as, unwillingly, she came back to the bars. She wrapped her fingers around the steel and the sudden cold shocked her. She shook her head as if to clear it, but Amaterasu reached out and took it between her hands, forcing Kokoro to meet her eyes.

"What do you want from me?" whispered Kokoro.

"Nothing," said Amaterasu. "I want to help you."

"I don't need help."

With her thumb, Amaterasu smoothed back the fur on Kokoro's cheeks. "Did your mother ever do this?"

Slowly, Kokoro nodded. "A long time ago."

"Sixty-eight years ago, but who's counting?" Amaterasu's smile grew sad. "What a tragic story that was."

"They weren't the only ones to die."

"No, but they were your only ones. Your entire family, wasn't it? All at once. And you were so young, barely more than a pup. Do you bring flowers to their grave?"

"I can't."

"No, of course not, how silly of me." Amaterasu shook her head. "They haven't got one, have they? They haven't got anything but a smear of ash on some Mud Man's wall."

"I don't want to talk about it." In vain, Kokoro tried to look away.

"I wonder, my dear, do you lie awake at night and think about what it felt like? Or what would have happened if you'd been above ground that day? If you hadn't been lounging around with your aunt in Mu, while your sisters were miles away, helping your parents in Hirosh—"

"Stop it!" Kokoro snarled, pulling at the bars of her cell as if to rip them out. "Stop! I don't want to hear it!"

"Your mother was trying to help the Mud Men, wasn't she? Healing the wounded and the starving and the sick. And just look how they repaid her."

Tears welled in Kokoro's eyes but didn't fall. "Unless you can bring back the dead," she whispered, fighting to control herself, "I fail to see how you can help me."

Amaterasu smiled. "What if there were a world without Mud Men crawling all over everything? What if we could be free of them at last? Wouldn't you like that?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Do you know the story of our father's spear?"

Kokoro frowned. "Sure, everyone does. The Mud Men think it created the archipelago of Japan."

Amaterasu's laugh was like music, high and bright. "Of course it didn't, as we both know. But that doesn't mean it can't _move_ Japan."

"I don't understand." Kokoro swallowed, her eyes narrowing.

"Ages and ages ago, my father had a fight with a neighbouring fairy king on the mainland and had his warlocks create a weapon powerful enough to separate my father's kingdom from his neighbour's. How do you think we ended up here in the middle of the ocean?"

"Well, now I see where Tsukuyomi got his temper," Kokoro snorted. "So that's your great master plan? You've locked me up down here just so you can split this country into even smaller islands? You really dream big, don't you?"

Amaterasu clicked her tongue impatiently. "Don't be stupid, _kitsune_." Her voice was decidedly less soft now. "We're going to use it to send ourselves and our family home into Limbo and escape this mud-covered world."

Kokoro's eyebrows shot up. "You must be kidding me. You don't have that kind of magic anymore; no one does."

"Not individually, perhaps, but pooled together I think we have a fair chance. Besides, we've found an ... untapped source."

"An untapped... _Kannon_," Kokoro's expression cleared as she solved the puzzle.

"Clever girl," smiled the other fairy.

"But a spell that big will cause an enormous backlash unless it's properly contained. And you _definitely_ don't have the power supply for that too. The fallout from a strenuous healing can be bad enough. People are going to get hurt."

"Oh, yes," agreed Amaterasu. "Thousands of Mud Men will probably die. But that's the best part, isn't it? Nothing like a little poetic justice. And just picture it: a world all for us, where we can walk where we like and live how we want." Amaterasu's voice was once again deep and beautiful. "Wouldn't you like that, Kokoro?"

Kokoro wrapped a hand around Amaterasu's wrist and forcefully ripped the other fairy's hand from her face. "I may hate them, but I'm not _like_ them." Her voice was cold and calm.

Amaterasu pouted. "You're as bad as Longnu. Always so bloody serious." Then, tucking her hands into her voluminous sleeves, she turned and swept out of the room. She too knew a lost cause when she saw one.

As the heavy door slammed shut behind her, Kokoro took a deep, ragged breath and slumped forward against the bars of her cell.

"Hey."

Kokoro's head whipped up and her paws curled, ready to fight.

"It's only me." Holly held up her hands in a gesture of peace.

"Major Short." Hastily, Kokoro wiped at her eyes.

"It's ... just Holly is fine."

"How did you find me?"

"I ran into Amaterasu in the hall." Holly reached through the bars and laid a hand on Kokoro's arm. The other fairy twitched, but Holly didn't let go. "Hey, it's okay, it's just me."

Kokoro swallowed, but didn't move away. "I'm sorry, I'm ... this is so unprofessional. I—"

"Don't worry about it," soothed Holly. "I... I'm sorry. I didn't know. About your family, I mean."

"Well," Kokoro chuckled weakly, "it's not really something they put in your personnel file is it?"

"Kokoro, I'm really—"

"Look, Major, I don't want your pity."

Holly's lips quirked, as if at some personal joke. "I know you don't, Captain. What's on offer here is my sympathy, not my pity. I know how you feel."

The _kitsune_ laughed bitterly. "Do you?"

"Yes," said Holly evenly, "I do. Mine didn't go up in a mushroom cloud, but the Mud Men got them all the same."

Kokoro looked up to meet Holly's eyes. "Really?"

The elf nodded. "A 'nuclear waste management issue'."

Kokoro swore softly. The two fairies said nothing for a moment until, gently, Kokoro covered the hand on her arm with a paw.

"How do you do it?" she asked.

"Do what?"

"Speak to him? _Laugh_ with him?"

"With Artemis?" Holly guessed, smiling a little. "Their deaths weren't his fault. Besides, he's— he's not so bad, once you get to know him." Holly shrugged. "And, truthfully, he's a lot more fun than most people I know."

"I don't know if I could ever do that."

"You don't need to." Contemplatively, Holly cocked her head, peering up at the _kitsune_. "You want to go with Amaterasu, don't you?" It wasn't an accusation, just a statement of fact.

Kokoro didn't speak for a moment, just eyed the elf. Finally, she gave one curt nod. "But I won't," she said.

Holly smiled. "I believe you."

Hesitantly, Kokoro smiled back.

"Come on," Holly rubbed her hands together, suddenly all business. "Let's get you out of this thing. I'm assuming it's enchanted to keep you from morphing into a mouse and running off?"

"In one."

"Hmm. Well, I wonder how it feels about lasers?" Holly mused, drawing her neutrino.

* * *

_Longnu, is that you?_

_You can hear me! Oh, Frond, I was so worried. Yes, it's me. Of course it's me._

_Kannon's laugh rumbled through her, familiar and comforting._

_You're right - of course it's you. Who else would be bothered to come all this way?_

_Lots of people would be bothered. I'll have you know the LEP sent a special elf all the way from Haven just to find you._

_Really? And yet you're the only one here._

_Well, that's just part of the plan. _

_The plan?_

_Yes. The elf has a human friend who likes to plan things. Which is just as well, because he'd be as useful in a fight as a bowl of overcooked soba._

_A human friend?_

_Yes. It's...well, you'll see. He's not like the others. And his big friend makes _delicious_ food. I'm not kidding you, Kannon, you have _got_ to try his stir fry. He makes his own sauce and everything!_

_Kannon laughed again. I'm glad it was you he sent to find me, Longnu. I've missed you._

* * *

"Hey, would you look at that, Susie. Wonder what she's dreaming about? Must be good, check out that smile. Blinding, that's what that is."

"Don't call me that."

* * *

"Artemis? Foaly? I've found Kokoro."

"We noticed." Artemis' dry voice came through her communicator loud enough for Kokoro to hear. The _kitsune_ rolled her eyes.

"Look, Fowl, I'm calling to ask your advice. Don't make me regret it."

"Wouldn't dream of it, my dear."

It was Holly's turn to roll her eyes. "Well, now that you've heard Amaterasu's master plan, what's next? This is your brilliant scheme, remember."

"Well, unfortunately, it needs a little... rearranging."

"No kidding."

The human's sigh rattled the communicator's tiny speaker. "Always so quick to criticize."

"Artemis," Holly growled, but she was smiling.

"We know where Kannon and the spear are being kept. We received some rather...dramatic footage of Longnu's arrival there. They didn't take out her iris-cam until she was in the room itself."

"Well," Holly cracked her neck, "give us some directions. We're down in the basement but Kokoro says she could get us out of here and back to the main level."

Foaly whinnied anxiously in the background. "They knew about the tech. They left it in for a reason. The whole thing is probably a trap, Holly."

"Of course it's a trap," Artemis scoffed. "But we have little choice. The spear needs to be dealt with. Besides, I'm sure the Major can take care of a few muscle-bound thugs."

"Your faith in me is overwhelming," said Holly.

"I'm being serious!" There came the sound of Foaly biting a carrot in two. Holly narrowed her eyes and cocked her head. No, not a carrot, a parsnip.

"Foaly," Holly sighed, "this is my job, remember? It'll be fine. Look, I've even got back-up that can fight. Usually all I have is Artemis. I'm already ahead of the game here."

"You'll miss me when push comes to shove," the man sniffed.

"Still..." Foaly didn't sound pleased.

"There are only four people in the hall with Longnu and Kannon," Butler interjected. "Holly and Kokoro should have no trouble, especially with the element of surprise. Frankly, the biggest problems, as far as I can see, aren't incapacitating the enemy but what to do once they're out. How do we wake up Kannon and how do we disable this spear?"

Shancai spoke up. "I wouldn't be surprised if Longnu is already in the process of waking up Kannon."

Foaly made a noise of disbelief. "From her deck chair?"

"It's a matter of spiritual connection, not physical contact," explained Shancai, his voice surprisingly calm.

"Great. But what about the spear?" Holly asked.

"I say we call in Retrieval," said Foaly. "We've done our job: we found their location and uncovered their plan. It's time for the jocks to do their thing. If Amaterasu and her brothers are locked up and the spear taken into government custody – as it should have been years ago, might I add – then there's no problem."

There was a moment of radio silence. Foaly sighed. "Alright, alright, fine. But if this blows up in our faces—"

"You can say 'I told you so'," Holly promised.

"I was going to say 'try not to die', but that works too."

Holly laughed. "Just give me the directions, boys, and let's get this done."

Artemis did as she asked. "Will you have any trouble getting out of the prison?"

Holly shot a smile at Kokoro. "Oh, I don't think so."

* * *

The _kappa_ guards didn't stand a chance. Holly took one out with the door and Kokoro got the other with a sharp elbow to the nose.

As Kokoro re-appropriated their weaponry, she asked, carefully focussed on the gun in her hands, "How do you know it wasn't Artemis who betrayed us to Amaterasu?"

Holly sighed. "I was wondering when you'd ask."

"And what have you decided to say in reply?"

"That it's not him." Holly offered the words up with a shrug and self-mocking smile.

Kokoro, crouching on her haunches, peered up over her shoulder at Holly, one eyebrow raised. "You realise that that might not be the most persuasive argument, right?"

Holly chuckled. "It was worth a try. Look, honestly, it's just not his style. He likes to be the one in charge. There's no way he'd be informing for a bunch of amateurs like these guys. He'd set fire to his favourite suit before he hired himself out."

Kokoro straightened up. "I find that oddly convincing," she said. "Of course, he could be pulling all the strings and they're working for him."

Holly shook her head, smiling. "I bet he's having the same discussion with Shancai and Jiji right now. But really, if that were, hypothetically, a possibility, what's in it for him? He's certainly not interested in sending a chunk of Japan off into Limbo. And he does nothing unless there's something in it for him."

The two fairies headed up the hall, unconsciously falling into step with each other.

"Fair point. But, I mean, what's in _this_ for him?" Kokoro gestured at Holly, herself, and their surroundings.

Holly gave a wry smile. "Don't tell him I told you so but he's bored. Or, at least, he _was_ bored. Bored and, I think, a little lonely. He came here to help because he wanted something to do. He's been 'dropping by' on my above ground cases for two years now."

"So, what, you're his entertainment?"

"Well, isn't that what friends are for?"

For a moment Kokoro wrestled with her prejudices. When she had got over the idea of inter-species friendship, she gave Holly a brief once-over and said with a shrug, "Well, I can't say I blame him."

Much to her surprise, Holly found herself blushing. "Well, my bet is Shancai, honestly. Jealousy's a good motivator."

"What about your dwarf? He's worked for this lot already; what if he still is?"

"No, he's a terrible actor. Besides, he didn't know anything about our plan."

Kokoro nodded. "I suppose Shancai does have the most to gain. It seems awfully sad, though, that he'd go to such lengths."

Holly nodded. For a moment they walked in contemplative silence. It didn't last long, however. From ahead of them, they heard the unmistakable sound of Tsukuyomi swearing. Holly turned to look at Kokoro but found she had disappeared.

* * *

"I'm going in to help. I'm a trained negotiator. If this all goes even more wrong we'll need someone to straighten things out." Jiji spoke while equipping himself with an iris-cam and mike. "I'm not letting Koko walk into a trap on her own."

Artemis watched the fairy prepare without attempting to stop him. Butler stood behind Artemis, as willing to hog-tie him as he was to let him run off, if Artemis gave the order.

"There's no point in trying to talk me out of it so just save your breath."

"Consider my breath successfully saved," Artemis said at last. "I have no desire to talk you out of your decision, whatever my personal views on the matter are."

"Well... well, good then." Jiji yanked on a pair of regulation gloves.

"You care for her quite a lot, don't you?"

The fairy paused in his frenzied preparations. "Koko?" he asked.

Artemis nodded.

"Yes," said Jiji, "I do. I told you, she's like a daughter to me. We're the only family we've got. I'd do anything for her," he looked down at his gloves, as though surprised to see them on his paws. "Anything."

Abruptly, the badger shook himself from his thoughts and looked up again. "So you'd better just keep out of the way, human."

"I intend to," Artemis smiled. "But just remember, Kuromame, that you're not the only one with loved ones at stake."

The _tanuki_ eyed the human for a moment. "Fair enough. I'll do what I can."

"I'm going with him." Shancai stood up abruptly.

Jiji paused. "I don't know if that's a good idea," he said.

"I'm going, so like you said," Shancai shrugged, "there's no point in wasting your breath trying to talk me out of it. If Longnu can't wake up Kannon, I may be able to. If nothing else, I'm a very good marksman."

Jiji eyed Shancai for a moment then shrugged. "I suppose we've all got a right to help the ones we love." And, with that, he disappeared into the undergrowth, heading to the castle.

"I'd be careful, if I were you, Shancai. Things aren't as they seem," Artemis said softly.

"And what if I'm not what I seem?" Shancai responded.

"Well, I knew that already," Artemis smiled. "Good luck."

The fairy studied Artemis for a moment. "Thank you," he said at last. And then he too disappeared into the bushes.


	9. Falling Stars

Sorry for the wait, everyone! Real life got rather bat shit crazy for a little while. A life lesson for all of you: if you're ever in a relationship you believe to be on its last legs DO NOT decide to go on a cross-continental road trip with your partner. It will _not_ bring you closer together and you _will_ end up taking a bus across the country for four days with all your worldly belongings in a backpack.

Also, a side note for Kindaoutaluck in re "was Kokoro saying that Holly is hot": don't worry, all will become clear in the end!

And now, let us all celebrate the patience and good taste of the wonderful ilex-ferox.

* * *

**Chapter Eight: Falling Stars**

**9:47pm, May 4th, Okami estate**

Tsukuyomi stalked down the hall, arms gesticulating wildly. "—cking escaped already! Bloody snotty little vixen. I swear to the gods—"

But just what Tsukuyomi was about to swear would forever be lost because, at that precise moment, he was knocked unconscious. He very literally never saw it coming. But his brother had. Susano, not quite as dumb as he looked, had seen the shimmer in the air strike his brother at the base of the neck and had punched that shimmer squarely in the midriff.

"Oof!" said the shimmer, just before it collapsed on the floor. Once on the floor, it coalesced into something altogether corporeal and then Susano drew his gun and shot it. The look on the elf's face as she passed out very clearly said 'not again!'

"There's supposed to be two of you," said Susano, in a rare show of loquaciousness.

But there was no one else in the hallway. So, shrugging, he slapped his brother awake, heaved the unconscious elf over his shoulder, and turned back the way he had come, ignoring Tsukuyomi's complaints as much as he could.

"You didn't have to hit me so hard! Frond, Susie, you did more damage than the bloody cop!"

"Don't call me that."

* * *

When they could no longer hear Shancai, Artemis sighed. "Finally," he said. "I thought they'd never leave. I only hope Shancai doesn't run into trouble."

Butler frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Jiji's our leak, of course. Really, what does he propose to do? Walk up to the doors and demand to be let in, in the name of the law? He didn't even bother to think of a plausible cover story. Amateurs!" Artemis threw his hands in the air. "Just what am I supposed to believe that he achieve in there that Holly couldn't? 'Trained negotiator'? I mean _honestly_."

"But if he's the informer should we have just let him go in un—" Butler stopped abruptly. "We're going in too, aren't we?"

Artemis nodded. He gave a wry smile. "Better late than never, my old friend."

"I beg to differ," Butler rumbled.

* * *

The way down the mountain was difficult but Jiji walked with confidence, despite the underbrush and the dim light. It took them surprisingly little time to reach the rear gate, a smaller entrance mainly used for deliveries in this day and age. Shancai was mildly impressed, _tanuki_ weren't known for their stamina.

Before they left the bush entirely, Shancai reached forward, grabbing Jiji by the sleeve. The fairy turned expectantly. "What's the matter?"

Shancai took a deep breath. "I want in."

"Excuse me?"

"I want to join. I know it's you; I know you're the informant. Let me help you."

Jiji stood perfectly still, his face half in shadow. At last he said, "Why?"

"Why wouldn't I want to live away from all this? Away from the humans, away from my past, away from—away from everything. Besides you have Kannon and I'm assuming you don't mean her well."

Suddenly, the other fairy looked uncomfortable. "We don't mean her harm, _per se_. Kannon— it wouldn't be right. We're just making use of her magic. It won't hurt her."

Shancai snorted. "You modern-day fairies and your morals. Fine. Do what you like with her and I will deal with her afterwards. In the interim, I can help you. Let me help you."

Jiji hesitated a moment longer before nodding. "Alright. But Amaterasu will want to see you."

"Lead the way," said Shancai.

* * *

Artemis picked up an aerial shot of the castle. "From what we've seen, the only building large enough to be housing Kannon is this hall here at the back."

"And how, exactly, do you propose we get in?" Butler had a heavy sense of foreboding. "There's only the one door as far as we know and getting to it would involve a lot of creeping through hallways with paper-thin walls. Literally."

Artemis smiled at the joke. "There is only one door," he agreed. "But there are several skylights. We brought the rappelling gear, didn't we?"

There was a reason Butler trusted his instincts: they were always right.

* * *

If the _kappa_s guarding the back exit were surprised to see Jiji stumble out of the bushes they didn't show it. They didn't bat an eyelid for Shancai either, though one produced a length of rope from somewhere and held it up to Jiji as if in question. The badger shook his head.

"He's with me," he explained.

The_ kappa_s shrugged, utterly uninterested. As soon as Jiji and Shancai went through the doors, they went back to leaning against the rock walls, their scaly frog-like faces turned up to watch the stars.

* * *

The first thing Holly saw when she woke up was a smiling girl in a grass skirt playing the ukulele in the middle of a bright pink field.

Holly stared at the girl in disbelief. Then the view began to move and Holly realised that she was not, in fact, crazy, but that the fairy in front of her simply had horrible taste in clothes.

"Hey there, little lady." A squat-bodied fairy with spindly limbs waggled his eyebrows at her from under a thatch of unruly dark hair.

"Don't call me that," was the first thing that came to her.

For some reason, the other fairy found this outrageously funny. He threw his head back to laugh, one hand resting on his beer belly. "I've found you a friend, Susie."

Somewhere out of Holly's line of sight, someone grunted. She turned to look, but found that she was tied to a deck chair, the kind humans lay on to tan. "What the—" she began, then caught sight of her fellow prisoner. "Longnu! Are you okay?"

The other fairy laughed again. "Don't bother, she's off communing with Kannon. She's been like that for ages. Anyway, it's your turn now."

"My turn for— hey! Ow!" Holly tried to wriggle away but he had already inserted an IV into her arm. Following the IV line with her eyes, Holly found she was attached to a giant spear. Things suddenly became clear. "Your father's spear," she said. Then she slumped in her seat. "Great! The one time I'm actually running hot for a mission, my magic gets hijacked by a bunch of lunatics. Just perfect."

The badly-dressed fairy smiled down at her, waving a fly out of his face. "Don't worry, darling. If you're very good, we'll take you with us when we go. I wouldn't mind: you're awfully pretty." He swatted at the fly again, which had started to buzz obnoxiously. "Frond, where did this bloody bug come from? It's driving me nuts."

Silently, Holly rooted for the fly.

* * *

Artemis flew. It calmed his nerves. And, though Butler wondered how it was possible for someone with such poor hand-eye coordination, he was quite good at it. Silently, he settled the hulking shuttle on the roof of the great hall.

"Holly was right," he said. "This contraption is a monstrosity. How on earth did she ever land in that tiny clearing?"

"It's nice to hear you appreciating someone else's talents," said Butler.

Artemis peered at him in the light of the cockpit. "Are you being passive aggressive?"

"What? No. I'm being honest."

"I appreciate your many talents as well, Butler."

The enormous bodyguard eyed his charge with a smile. "Thank you, Artemis. I know you do. But it's always nice to hear you say so. I just meant—I'm glad you can say things like that now. Once upon a time you wouldn't have dreamt of it."

"I'm a changed man," said Artemis dryly, rising from the pilot's seat. Butler shrugged and let it lie for the moment. Heart to hearts were not his forte.

* * *

When Shancai and Jiji came through the doors, Holly's jaw nearly dropped. No _kappa_ came with them and she had trouble believing they had the guts, the skills, or even the sheer dumb luck to get this far on their own. They clearly weren't expected, however, and all four Okami siblings rose at their entrance. Shancai paid none of them any attention.

"Kannon!" he hollered as he walked, "Kannon, wake up this bloody instant. This is beyond ridiculous. Get up now!"

Susano rushed forward, looping one burly arm around Shancai's neck, pulling him into a tight headlock. The dark-haired fairy was not quite the fighter his fiancée was; he pulled at the skin of Susano's forearm, digging in with his nails, but couldn't escape. "Kannon, you coward!" he shouted as he struggled.

Jiji stood off to the side, watching all this, his face growing more and more distressed. Holly peered at him out of the corner of her eye, and wondered why no one was bothering with him. An answer hovered in her subconscious but she refused to acknowledge it.

As Shancai squirmed, the fly reappeared, circling Susano's head and getting in his ears. Its angry buzzing was louder than a drunk dwarf sleeping it off in the back of an LEP van. Growling, Susano swatted at it but couldn't catch it with Shancai in his other arm.

"Well isn't this fun! Shancai, I presume?" Now that Shancai was under control, Hiruko settled back down onto his lawn chair to watch his brother wrestle with their newest captive. "I'm afraid your little dragon girl's been trying all evening. Somehow I doubt you'll succeed where she's failed. I get the feeling the two of them are closer than the two of you." Even Holly, who wasn't invested one way or the other, wanted to slap the slimy grin off of Hiruko's face.

Instead of growing angrier, however, Shancai went suddenly limp, a rueful smile spreading across his face. "Kannon owes me," he said at last, so softly that Holly almost missed it. "She owes me and she knows it."

"For the love of Frond," Amaterasu sighed gustily. "I can't take any more of this touchy-feely love triangle palaver! For gods' sake, Jiji, what were you thinking, bringing him here?"

"He said he wanted to help us…" Jiji began, clearly confused with the situation. "He said he would help us. He said he doesn't even _like_ Kannon! He's probably just trying to wake her up so that we can finally drain her magic."

Amaterasu snorted. "What is wrong with you _tanuki_? All this time and still so gullible, I mean it's—"

But Amaterasu never got to finish her tirade. Unnoticed by anyone, the fly's buzzing had stopped some time ago and suddenly, as if out of nowhere, Kokoro now appeared. She fell from the air, landing limply, limbs splayed out on the floor, her face wide with horror. Slowly, dazedly, she climbed to her feet. Her eyes never left her friend's. "Jiji," she whispered when she was finally standing. "Jiji, what have you done?"

The badger swallowed, his mouth forming words then abandoning them. "Koko..." he managed at last.

"Who on earth are all these people?"

* * *

"You know, I don't think I've ever heard you refer to someone as a loved one before," Butler commented as they stood on the roof of the great hall.

Artemis peered down at the ground with evident misgivings. Whether they were due to the distance between him and said ground or to the topic of discussion wasn't clear. "Well, I haven't got very many of them," he replied at length.

"I'm not making fun of you, Artemis. I'm happy you're making friends." Gently, the enormous bodyguard helped his charge into the harness.

Artemis smiled in self-mockery. "I'm not sure that 'making friends' is quite what I'm doing."

"What do you mean?" Butler looked up from double-checking his knots.

"I believe it's time for us to descend. Things seem to be heating up."

"Artemis—"

But Artemis had already swung the hammer high above his head. Butler was surprised he could even lift it. Maybe he had been doing his exercises after all.

* * *

In retrospect, Holly thought, it must have been funny. Everyone froze and then, in perfect synchrony, turned to face her, mouths agape. And there she stood, still golden, but human-height and quite conscious, her many arms stretching and straightening, working out the kinks of her long meditation. Two of them reached out, untying newly-awakened Longnu and helping her to her feet, pulling her close. The other fairy didn't resist, wrapping her arms around her mistress's neck. One golden hand rested on her hair. From above Longu's head, Kannon smiled at them, each of her faces reflecting the same joy and love.

"Oh my gods," breathed Kokoro.

"Holy d'Arvit," said Holly, a little more bluntly.

"Finally," said Shancai and brought his heel down hard on the top of Susano's foot. The Okami howled and dropped his captive. Shancai crossed the space between him and Kannon in a few quick strides.

Kannon looked down at the fairy in front of her, her smile never wavering. "You're right, Shancai. I do owe you." Her lips twitched. "And more than just an apology."

Shancai's face was impassive and then he smiled. "Well," he said, reaching out to lay a hand on Kannon's arm, "you can start by getting us the hell out of here."

"I think not," Amaterasu broke in, drawing herself up. "This reunion is all very touching but it's high time we get moving. Guards, tie them up!"

The _kappa_s moved in, baring their ugly crooked teeth when there came a sudden shuddering crash. High above, a skylight had shattered. Shards of glass fell around them, their jagged edges like so many stars in the dark hall.


	10. Everything Is All Right

Sorry, guys, I'm afraid you're all going to hate me after this.

Three cheers for ilex-ferox!

* * *

**Chapter Nine: Everything Is All Right  
**

**10:12pm, May 4th, Okami estate**

Artemis watched almost fondly as Butler dropped through the shattered skylight, guns blazing before he had even cleared the frame. Artemis checked the anchors they had driven into the roof one last time; he checked the knots that Butler had tied so carefully; then he too went down through the broken glass. He could admit – to himself at least – that he didn't do it with quite as much panache as Butler. He made his peace with that.

Everyone was otherwise engaged when he landed; he was the only one without a dance partner. He was quite all right with that. In truth, he fervently hoped that everyone continued to ignore him for quite some time. There came a point in every plan when he was forced to surrender control to his more physically inclined friends. Like descending from skylights without style, this fact was something he accepted gracefully. This was not a situation that played to his strengths and Artemis only fought battles he knew he could win.

A battle he very nearly didn't win – to Artemis' eternal, if private, embarrassment – was, in fact, getting out of his harness. Butler was long out of his and fighting some dreadful stormy giant by the time Artemis finally managed to wriggle out of the contraption. Free at last, he scanned the room, gauging the situation, looking for that familiar streak of ginger hair to reassure him that everything was all right.

* * *

When she heard the crash, Holly rolled instinctively, trying to cover her head. Her chair toppled over, the IV yanked out of her skin by the force of her fall. She hissed with pain as she curled inwards, trying to make herself as small as possible. Still tied to the lawn chair this was easier said than done. Blood dribbled out of her arm, sliding thick and warm under her jumpsuit. Holly made a face and swore under her breath. Her magic was entirely gone.

Above her, chaos reigned. Amaterasu was screaming at the _kappas_ and there was the sound of bullets and neutrino blasts. And then, suddenly, the ropes on her arms fell loose around her.

"Here!" Kokoro reached her arm under the chair, hauling Holly to her feet.

"Thanks," Holly huffed as she stood, hauling a length of rope with her as she went – you never know when a bit of rope might come in handy; particularly enchanted rope. What she saw when she was clear of the chair almost made her drop it, however.

Longnu, once more a dragon, was coiled around an enormous leech-like creature whose cavernous tooth-filled mouth dipped and swayed, ripping off scales every time it touched her, leaving raw, bloody wounds behind. Shancai was using a folded lawn chair to beat back a pair of _kappa_s. Kannon fought barehanded, fending off Tsukuyomi and Amaterasu together. Amaterasu, in the form of an enormous white fox had clamped her jaws around one of Kannon's arms and yanked at it, her nine tails thrashing as she tried to pull the limb clean from its socket. Kannon didn't even seem to notice as she blocked Tsukuyomi's punches. And then there was Butler. Holly's heart swelled to see him and she dropped Kokoro's hand, running to help him.

He was fighting Susano. The surly fairy had grown to gigantic proportions, his tanned skin deepening to a thunderous blue, his dark hair whipping in a cold wind that seemed to come from his own body. Butler had emptied his Sig Sauer into the fairy's limbs, reluctant to kill him, and blood ran dark and syrupy down his stormy skin. Susano, having no such qualms, raised one clawed hand to strike and Holly jumped, throwing Butler her bit of rope.

Her foot connected with Susano's jaw, snapping his head to the side, knocking out teeth. Holly, airborne, flew past him, landing on all fours a few feet away. Butler had taken full advantage of the distraction: tackling Susano like a rugby player, he had managed to tie the fairy's ankles with the rope.

The rope's spell worked instantly. Susano shrunk; the wind calmed; his skin paled. The blood from his wounds grew more and more pronounced the smaller and lighter he became. When at last he lay still on the floor, Holly saw there was blood in the corners of his mouth. He must have been in incredible pain but still he tried to stand. Unimpressed, Butler hit him with the butt of his gun. The fairy slumped back onto the floor, unconscious.

"He's going to have a terrible headache tomorrow."

Holly jumped. Behind her stood Artemis. She hadn't even noticed him amid all the chaos. And yet there he was, like the eye of a tornado: the immaculate centre of a slavering, frenzied universe. Holly put a hand on his arm, suddenly, inexplicably, relieved to see him.

A lawn chair flew through the air and they both ducked, Holly pulling down on his arm just in case he had forgotten.

"You came," she said as they straightened.

He looked down at her as though surprised. "Of course," was all he said, leaning back to avoid a flying _kappa_.

The _kappa_ hit the far wall and slid, with a satisfying thud, to the floor. Holly smiled up at Artemis. They stood like that for what seemed an incredibly long time.

Something burst into flames across the hall and they both jumped, as though surprised to find themselves in the middle of a fight. The giant leech Longnu had been fighting was burning and, as it did so, its magic failed, and the shape of Hiruko was visible through the flames. The fairy screeched and swore, dropping to the floor to roll out the fire.

"I should probably—" Holly gestured at the mess.

"Yes, of course."

She tightened her grip on his sleeve briefly. "Don't get hurt," she said, and returned to the fray.

He wanted to say something equally bracing but she was already gone.

Holly could see that they were winning. Longnu had abandoned Hiruko – who was severely singed but otherwise all right – to help Kannon with Amaterasu. Butler had distracted Tsukuyomi and Kokoro was busy saving Shancai from still more _kappa_s. Holly set her Neutrino to crispy and ran to join the fun.

She never quite made it.

* * *

Jiji crept under Holly's abandoned lawn chair, glad to have somewhere out of the way to hide. He wasn't cut out for fighting. Even as a pup he would always rather give up his lunch money than so much as trade insults with the class bully. Besides, the Okamis had this under control. They were used to fighting. That's all fairy clans did back in their heyday.

Slowly, however, he watched the tables turn. Longnu threw off Hiruko; impossibly, that enormous human defeated Susano; half a dozen unconscious _kappa_s littered the hall. Jiji swallowed. He didn't want to join the fighting. He hated bloodshed; he didn't want to hurt anyone. But he couldn't let this chance slip away. Finally he could make things right for Kokoro. Gods damn it if he was going to let a couple of Mud Men and a stubborn elf get in the way.

Slowly, he crawled out from under the lawn chair, casting about for some sort of weapon. And then he saw it.

* * *

They all looked up when they heard the whistle of the spear; they all stared up at it, dumbfounded. All except Holly who had leapt high, her booted heel aimed squarely at Tsukuyomi's head. Kokoro screamed her name but the elf didn't hear, intent as she was on her target.

The spear caught Holly under the arm. Her graceful arc was broken; the force of impact sent her tumbling, limp and awkward, to the floor. When she hit the ground, she slid a few feet, her blood making a horrible wet squeal as it smeared across the wood.

As she fell she looked for him; she called his name.

* * *

Everything seemed to freeze when the spear hit her. As though no one could believe what they were seeing. As though no one could believe that that was actually blood. That that was actually blood and that it was everywhere now. How could someone so small have so much blood to lose?

And then he was screaming. "Holly! _Holly_!" He pushed through them all and ran, slipping on the blood. God, it really was _everywhere_. He lost his balance and fell to his knees, one of them cracking hard on the floor. He put his hands over her heart. _Keep pressure on the wound,_ he thought, trying to calm himself down. It didn't work. He couldn't see his hands: they had vanished into the blood.

"Artemis," she said, her eyes wide. "You came."

"Of course I did." The familiar words made his eyes sting. "Of course I did, Holly. Don't worry, I'll fix this, everything is all right. Don't worry, just don't—" _Don't what? _he thought, _don't die?_

"You're crying," she said. There was blood in her mouth

"No, I'm not," he replied, wiping at his eyes with one bloody hand.

She laughed at him fondly, then coughed, choking on blood. And then she died.


	11. Exercises in Persuasion

****Well, at least I didn't make you guys wait too long, right? ... right?  
In my defense, I feel a lot of you kind of guessed what was going on. After all, this is an AU of TLC.  
As always, many thanks to ilex-ferox. Hopefully this time I haven't left in any beta-comments. In other news, I finally have a laptop of my very own again and am no longer dependent on the charity of others so hopefully things will be running much more smoothly from now on.

* * *

**Chapter Ten: Exercises in Persuasion  
**

**10:23pm, May 4th, Okami Estate**

For a moment, no one said anything, the fighting over as suddenly as it began. All Artemis could hear his heartbeat in his ears, frantic and erratic. _No,_ he thought, _no!_

And then something extremely odd happened. It was as though a tiny pair of hands had grabbed hold of his heart – not the physical valve in his chest, but the metaphorical one whose existence he generally denied – and were holding onto it for dear life. It was as though someone else had slipped into his mind, into his body; their soul fitting in next to his.

_Artemis? _Her voice was puzzled. _What's going on? _

And then he laughed, nearly hysterical with relief.

Artemis stood up slowly, covered in blood. He brushed his hair from his eyes and turned to the crowd. They were, one and all, looking at him as though he had gone completely mad. He ignored them, zeroing in on Kannon.

"Bring her back," he said simply.

"I—Mud Man," the ancient being spoke softly, clearly empathizing with his pain, "I cannot do that."

"Yes, you can," he told her. "You brought Longnu back once, you can bring Holly back now."

"That was ten thousand years ago," said Kannon.

_Pity she doesn't have a crush on me too_, muttered Holly. Artemis' lips twitched.

_You must hold on, Holly. I'll convince her._

_Artemis, I'm dead, how can I_—

_No, you're not. If your soul is still here, you're not dead yet. Now focus, Major._

_Okay, okay, focussing. Holding on. Yessir._

Artemis wondered briefly if all disembodied souls were so sarcastic.

"My ancestors prayed to you for mercy," he told Kannon. "You were a god once."

"I was never a god," said Kannon sadly. "I cannot help you, Mud Man."

"Yes, you can. You _must_. Her soul is still here and I—" he paused, collecting himself. "Please," he said at last, and his voice cracked on the word. "Please, have mercy on us."

He could feel Holly in his mind, light as a feather-touch on his memories, as her own scrolled before his mind's eye. He wanted to take each one in his hands like a photograph and absorb every detail, every piece of her.

_Artemis. _Her voice was sad and soft and he wondered what she had seen. He swallowed. He had to focus.

"Please," he said again. His throat felt raw. Words were difficult to form. He was unaccustomed to begging. "It's too soon."

_Artemis. _She had such faith in him; he couldn't let her down, not this time.

"Your eyes," Kannon said, peering at him. She tried to come closer but Amaterasu growled, burying her teeth even deeper into Kannon's arm. Kannon blinked owlishly down at the other fairy as if seeing her for the first time. She frowned then looked up, over Amaterasu's head, to Butler. The enormous man nodded once and, before Amaterasu had time to react, she had gone the way of Susano.

Blue magic crackled along Kannon's wounds as she stepped over Amaterasu's limp form. She took Artemis' face in her golden hands, rubbing blood out of the way. His eyes had changed, she realised: one had turned hazel. It was an odd thing to look at: as though two different people were staring up at her from a single face. The human blinked under her scrutiny and a tear welled, running unnoticed down his cheek, cutting through the blood.

"Please," he whispered.

She brushed his hair off his forehead, knowing he would never have allowed such a gesture in other circumstances. "Alright," she said quietly. "I will try."

She began to grow. She grew until she towered over the human and the tiny body of his broken friend. Folding her long limbs together, she sat cross-legged and gathered them both to her, placing the boy and the body in her lap. Wrapping her arms around them, she looked down at them from above, closing off the outside world. She was smiling with all eleven mouths. All Artemis could see was gold; gold and Holly lying in the midst of it. Somehow, he felt calmer.

_Artemis_, she sounded worried.

_Focus, Major. _

_But what if this doesn't work_—_I mean, what if you're stuck with me for the rest of your life? What if—_

_It _is_ going to work._

_Artemis—_

_And truthfully, I could really do with a more rigorous conscience. Not to mention, you have some experience in the field already. There's no better candidate for the job, really._

_Hilarious. But seriously, Artemis, what if—_

_It's going to work, Holly._

Kannon took Artemis' hands in two of her own and placed all four on Holly's chest. "Are you ready?" she asked.

He nodded.

_But if it doesn't and I die_—

_You are not going to die. I will not let you._

___Artemis, _she whispered. _Artemis,____ I'm afraid_.

_I know, _he said, smiling to himself. _You always get so sarcastic when things aren't going well._

___And I always said you were the predictable one._ Oh, Artemis. And then she laughed, fondly, like she had laughed at him only a few minutes earlier. It was the last thing he heard before Kannon's power tore through him. After that, he could hear nothing but the roar of magic – there was so much of it – as it flooded his fragile human body, washing everything else away.

* * *

Her head was pounding. The grain of the wooden floor swam below her and she wondered if she would be sick. Very slowly, more for the sake of her head than anything else, she looked up.

No one was watching her. In fact, they were all facing away, their eyes fixed on Kannon who sat, enormous and golden, in the centre of the hall. Briefly, she wondered what was going on. Then she took seized the opportunity. Behind her, Hiruko lay singed and unconscious. She ignored him. She had work to do.

Kannon was pulsing with light and the skin of her adversaries glowed with it, their faces turned up to her like dumb lambs to the slaughter. Amaterasu rolled her eyes as, silently, invisibly, she flew low across the floor. The spear lay just out of the others' sight, having rolled from where that anemic-looking human had tossed it. Its tip was still bloody and had stained the wood.

It was not as heavy as it looked - that imbecilic _tanuki_ had managed to throw it after all - and her wings were strong. She didn't usually choose owls - she was more of a hawk sort of girl herself, really - but they were powerful and, more importantly, they were silent. Her claws closed around the wooden shaft and, as the light of Kannon's power began to fill the hall, she flew, unnoticed, through the broken skylight.

* * *

**10:41pm, May 4th, Okami Estate**

Artemis awoke to a thudding sound below him. It was rhythmic and strong; he could feel the bass note pounding against his cheek. And then he realised what he was lying on.

Groggily, he pushed himself to his knees. Below him, lying on a still bloody floor, was Holly. But her chest rose and fell; her heart was beating as though it had never stopped.

"Holly," he said. The obvious was all he could manage at that moment.

"I believe it worked," said Kannon, once more a manageable size. Her voice sounded tired, but she was smiling.

Artemis looked up. His friends, his unwilling allies, stood clustered around him, looking down.

"The others?" he asked faintly.

"I'm afraid they're a bit tied up at the moment," said Butler, straight-faced.

Artemis nodded slowly.

Holly groaned, shifting until something popped in her back. She opened her eyes. They were different, Artemis noticed. One was blue. In fact one was the exact - but then she spoke.

"You saved me," she said, looking up at him.

"I...well, I had help," he said.

"You look terrible," she told him, smiling gently. "And you're crying again."

"No, I'm not," he replied, once more rubbing his eyes. "Why do you keep saying that?"

"Because you keep doing it," she retorted.

"Well, if you would have the decency to stop dying all the time, I wouldn't have to," he snapped back.

Holly reached out a hand and he grew silent, taking it in one of his. Together, they swayed to their feet.

"Thank you," she said, before letting go.

"Anytime," he told her. "Though preferably never again."

"Preferably," she agreed. Then she cocked an eyebrow at him. "Your eyes are different."

"So are yours."

Kannon cleared her throat. "It's possible that the magic cemented the change, this isn't something I do every day after all; there's no telling what might have happened."

Holly chuckled, elbowing Artemis in the hip. "Now I'll always be able to keep an eye on you!" she said.

"Such wit," Artemis deadpanned.

He wanted to say more but Kokoro came forward, sweeping Holly into a crushing hug; Butler was next to him suddenly, checking for damage; Longnu and Shancai were congratulating Kannon. Everyone was talking, laughing with relief. He watched Holly from under Butler's arm and tamped down his frustration.

* * *

It wasn't until the INARetrival team found them that they realised Amaterasu and the spear were missing. The bulked up _kitsune_s and _kappa_s had arrived to find everyone hugging and talking and hadn't quite been able to hide their disappointment that the action was already over and that the only surprise left for them was the discovery of one of their own among the prisoners.

They brightened considerably when Butler swore softly at the empty space where Amaterasu had been laying unconscious minutes before.

Even as Butler spoke, Artemis had turned, looking for the spear. Slowly, his eyes met Butler's, then slid to Holly. "I'm afraid she's got the better of us this time," he said.

Holly, breaking out of Kokorow's embrace, wrung an invisible neck. "How did this even happen?"

"Well," Artemis pointed out, "we were all a bit preoccupied."

Butler shook his head. "It's my fault, I should have tied her up after knocking her out."

Holly and Artemis shared an eye-roll. "Yes," agreed Artemis, "yes, how on earth did you forget to tie up an unconscious fairy after having just witnessed the violent death of one of your closest friends? Really, Butler, you're slipping."

Butler levelled a look at Artemis.

"Well now what?" asked Longnu.

"We'll just have to find her," Artemis shrugged, "and keep her from doing any more damage. For now, at least, might we get the rest of her entourage safely locked up?" He gestured to the Retrieval captain.

The _kitsune_ frowned, clearly unimpressed at being ordered around by a human. "I think it would be a better use of my officers to send them out after the fugitive than to babysit a bunch of prisoners."

Artemis smiled toothily. "Yes, I know you think so. Unfortunately, you would be wrong. We'll find Amaterasu. You'll take the prisoners."

"If you think I'm going to take orders from some trumped up civilian, a human one no less—"

"Captain..." Holly peered at his name tag, "Imo, is it? Thank you so much for coming but, as the officer in charge of this operation, I must insist that you take these prisoners into custody and let us deal with Amaterasu."

The _kitsune_ drew himself up. "While I appreciate that you—"

"I gave you an order, Captain." Holly's voice took on a decidedly Artemis-esque quality. "Take away the prisoners."

Captain Imo ground his teeth, glaring at Artemis down his long red nose. Artemis smiled angelically. His smile, however, became a grunt of pain when Holly gave him a sharp elbow to the ribs after the captain had turned away.

"Play nice," she hissed at him.

He rubbed his stomach. "Is that an order, Major?" he shot back.

"You better believe it, Fowl," she muttered. But she smiled at him, squeezing his hand in hers, before going to help the INARe officers.

As the grumbling Retrieval team finally began to lead the prisoners away, Kokoro stepped forward, her arms wrapped protectively around her chest. "Wait, Captain Imo," she called, "I just want—I just need a word with my…with Lieutenant Maeda."

The Retrieval captain paused, clearly wondering if the uppity foreign Major would get on him for this too. He decided not to push his luck. "We'll load the rest of them into the shuttle. We'll take him on the second trip."

"Thank you," Kokoro said softly. She came closer to Jiji, looking down into his broad furry face, her own eyes impassive.

"Koko…" His lovely warm eyes were wide with fear. "Koko, I did it for you, you have to understand." It wasn't fear of prison, or fear of retribution; it was fear that she might not agree, that she might, in the end, reject him.

Kokoro looked ill. "For me? Why on earth— How is this for me?"

"I thought you'd be happier away from all this, all of them." He gestured toward Artemis and Butler. "I wanted to make you happy. I thought this would be make you happy."

"Make me happy?" she echoed him, dumbfounded. "Thousands of people losing their lives just so I could be happy?"

"Only Mud Men," said Jiji. "Only Mud Men who took your family."

"And what? Now I'm to take theirs?"

Jiji wrung his paws, pleading with her. "I'm supposed to take care of you!" he said. "You're all the family I have and family looks out for its own. I was just trying to take care of you, Koko."

"Oh gods." Kokoro covered her eyes with her paws. "Oh gods, Jiji…" Tears leaked out below her paws.

"You hate them, Koko, what does it matter if a few of them die?" JIji took a cautious step forward, one paw outstretched.

"You told me to make friends with them!" Kokoro shot back.

Jiji stopped, holding up his paws, trying to soothe her. "Because I didn't want them to suspect you. Everyone knows you hate Mud Men; I didn't want them thinking you'd switched sides. Oh, Koko, oh, darling, don't cry. Please, Koko."

"You nearly killed Holly! Frond, you _did_ kill her!"

"She was defending them! She deserved it! It's like you said: how could she? _We're_ her people!" He drew closer still, laying a paw on her arm.

"Don't touch me," she hissed, and suddenly her face grew cold and closed. Only Artemis – so well-versed in hiding emotions – saw the effort it took her to turn away from her friend.

Jiji's whole body sagged. Grief cut open his face like a knife and all his hope and his love and his fear welled like blood in the wound and came pouring out. "Koko…" he begged.

But by then the Retrieval boys were back. Captain Imo gave a curt nod and two officers led Jiji away. He was still calling Kokoro's name.

Artemis watched as Kokoro's shoulders trembled with the exertion of control. He watched as she finally broke, falling to her knees like a penitent. He watched as Holly came to her and wrapped her arms around her, holding her tight, holding all the bits and pieces of this sobbing wreck of a woman together. Artemis looked away.

_Because of course_, he thought to himself, _it doesn't matter what people do. We love them all the same; even when we shouldn't._


	12. A Toast

Just in case anyone is wondering, I looked up how fast a Great Horned Owl can fly and these times are more or less correct. Isn't the internet amazing?

More than the usual amount of thanks to ilex ferox today for not only beta-ing with lightening speed but also for rolling with the punches and never once complaining about my last-minute changes of heart/additions of entire chapters at the drop of a hat.

* * *

**Chapter Eleven: A Toast  
**

**10:35pm, May 4th, Okami Estate**

Mulch parked the shuttle next to the back gate. It hadn't been a graceful landing and "parked" was a generous term but the shuttle was right side up and he was still alive so he chalked that one up as a success.

There didn't seem to be anyone on guard duty and, frankly, Mulch wasn't in the mood to worry about a few thugs at the moment. He'd eaten a lovely bucket of airy loam before he came and was feeling delightfully gaseous.

As he clambered out of the shuttle light came pouring out of the great hall, shooting up into the night sky through the skylights. He frowned, knowing that was where they were keeping Kannon. Had he arrived too late? As he stood there, debating with himself, he saw something rather odd. An enormous horned owl flew through one of the skylights, awkwardly maneuvering a giant spear in its claws. One end of the spear got caught under the sill and wouldn't come out. As Mulch watched, the owl lost its shape, flowing and coalescing again as a beautiful woman with nine fox tails all without ever dropping the spear. Angrily, she yanked the offending weapon through the window. Once it was free of the frame, she became an owl again and, securing the spear in her claws once more, flew away.

Mulch watched this, mouth agape. Then, suddenly realising what he had seen, swore and jumped back into the shuttle. As he revved the engine, flicking switches on the dashboard, he thanked his lucky stars that he'd stolen a ship with a stealth function.

* * *

Amaterasu flew much farther than Mulch had expected. They had been airborne for nearly four hours before she began to descend. Mulch could see she was tired and her owl facade faded almost as soon as she landed in the branches of an old camphor tree. Mulch let the shuttle hover, watching her through the telescopic camera on the shuttle's nose. She wrapped her arms around the spear and, settling herself on what Mulch could only guess was the most comfortable branch, fell asleep.

Instead of feeling like a courageous hero, Mulch felt, more than anything, like a peeping Tom. He pursed his lips. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

As there was no where to land the shuttle, he turned on the hover-park brake, knowing the sun would rise long before the solar-powered batteries ran out. Leaning back in the pilot's seat he checked his co-ordinates. According to the GPS system he was somewhere on Shikoku, Japan's fourth biggest island, and far to the south of Lake Biwa. He curled a stray beard hair around one pudgy finger. Where was Amaterasu headed? Surely she didn't mean to spend the rest of her life in a tree?

Bringing out his communicator, Mulch sent a quick text and then settled in for the long haul.

* * *

**3:09am, May 5th, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Kyoto**

Despite Holly and Artemis's show for Captain Imo, no one in the mismatched group was feeling particularly confident about finding Amaterasu.

"The thing is," Shancai pointed out, "she could be anywhere."

"Her family owns at least a dozen estates around the country," Longnu agreed despondently.

"D'Arvit," Holly swore - not for the first time that morning.

"What about the magic?" Artemis pinched the bridge of his nose as he asked this. "I don't suppose it's telling you anything useful at the moment is it?"

"Well," Longnu considered, "I do have this one picture of trees in my mind. Really enormous trees, really old ones. It seems familiar, but I just don't know..."

"Excellent," said Artemis. "Trees. Excellent."

It was then that Holly's communicator rang. Everyone jumped a little, their nerves on edge.

"It's from Mulch," said Holly with no little surprise. "He says... he says he's following Amaterasu. They're south, somewhere on Shikoku. She's been disguised as an owl."

"An owl carrying a giant spear?" Butler asked a little incredulously. "And isn't Mulch supposed to be in Europe by now?"

Holly shrugged. "Who cares? We've got to get down there."

Longnu snapped her fingers. "She's heading for Kuchinoerabujima."

Kannon and Shancai _aah_-ed at the same time as Artemis, Holly, and Butler all said: "Come again?"

"Kuchinoerabujima is a tiny island off the coast of Yakushima—"

"Another tiny island," Longnu interjected.

"—south of Kyushu," Shancai explained. "the family has a fortress underneath the mountain there."

"The mountain which is also a volcano," Kokoro spoke for the first time since they'd left the castle. "Is there any way she could use that energy to power the spear?"

"It's not beyond the realm of possibility," Artemis conceded. He glanced at Holly and raised his eyebrows.

"I'll tell Mulch we'll meet him there," said Holly.

* * *

Typical, thought Mulch. Just typical. "Stay on her tail, Mulch." "We'll meet you there, Mulch". What would they do without him?

* * *

They had to play catch up and, though Holly must have set a record, their shuttle could only go so fast. This left things, much to Artemis and Holly's chagrin, more or less in Mulch's hands until they arrived.

"Nice ride," Holly commented, her voice dry, as she spotted a state-of-the-art shuttle with government plates parked awkwardly in the branches of an ancient-looking _Sugi _tree near where Kannon told them they'd find the entrance to Amaterasu's fortress.

"Mulch clearly spared no expense," Artemis agreed with a smile.

"I'll let him know we're here."

Butler peered out the cockpit window. "I see what you mean about trees, Longnu," he commented, staring out at the lush rainforest.

Longnu nodded. "Like I said, the magic's always right in the end."

There was no place to park on the ground so Holly took a leaf out of Mulch's book and settled their transport - albeit rather more gracefully - in another enormous tree. It took a little time for them all to clamber down and, at one point, Longnu lost her patience and, reverting to a dragon, hooked her claws into the backs of Artemis and Shancai's shirts and flew them to the ground. Once safely on the ground, they both huffed and tried unsuccessfully to smooth their rumpled clothing and damaged egos.

"I was perfectly capable of—"

"I was nearly there, honestly, Longnu—"

But everyone ignored them.

First to hit the ground, Holly stood further into the forest, frowning down at her communicator.

"I still haven't heard back from Mulch," she said, biting her lip.

"Maybe he's napping?" Artemis offered, peering up at the other shuttle.

Holly snorted, following his line of vision. "Entirely possible."

But Longnu's banging on the government shuttle's door brought no response.

"D'Arvit," said Holly, covering her eyes with one hand. "He's gone inside, hasn't he?"

"And he used to be such a wonderful, cowardly dwarf," Artemis mused nostalgically.

Kokoro drew her gun. "There's only one thing for it, Holly," she said.

The elf sighed. "All right, let's go then. Artemis, try not to get into any trouble."

The human drew himself up, indignant. "I seem to recall it was you needed saving last time, not me."

"Exactly," Holly agreed, as she too drew her weapon, "so it's your turn now and I'd rather avoid a repeat performance."

* * *

Kannon, having been to the fortress once before, led the way.

"The door is quite cleverly hidden," she explained, as they scrambled over the giant roots of the _Sugi _trees. "It's carved directly into the rock face of the mountain and the seams are so small it's really quite impressive. Dwarf-made of course. They really do do the best work."

However, when they reached the rocky outcropping Kannon was leading them to, it took very little time to find the door. It was standing wide open, a dwarf hair still hanging out of the lock.

Holly swore again. "All right everyone, I want this to be very clear: you are going to follow my lead. If I tell you to stop, you stop. If I tell you to run, you run. No heroics and no bright ideas, okay?"

There was a lot of nodding and a few petulant looks and then they were inside.

Behind the door, a long dark tunnel ran straight towards the centre of the mountain. They were only a few metres in before the sounds of the forest had died away completely.

"This is creepy," Longnu whispered.

"Shouldn't there be guards?" Shancai asked.

"I think I forgot to mention," Holly ground out, "that there will also be silence unless I ask you to speak."

Someone sighed dramatically but, in the dark, Holly couldn't be sure who. She had her suspicions however.

Holly had to admit, though, that Longnu was right: it was creepy. The tunnel was narrow and airless and she had to fight down a rising sense of claustrophobic panic. There was no sound except the scuff of their feet on the dusty rock floor and the occasional drip-drip of water somewhere above them. And, really, shouldn't there have been guards?

How long they walked like this, Holly couldn't say. She knew, objectively, that it couldn't have been much more than ten minutes but it felt like years. All she knew was that, by the time they reached the end of the tunnel, she would gladly have fought off an army of _kappas _rather than spend another minute in that awful tunnel.

* * *

Amaterasu was walking slowly, dragging the spear behind her as she went, its tip drawing a line in the dirt of the floor. Mulch, having watched her enter the mountain, had had to find a place to park, walk back to the door, find the door and open it, and had still caught up with her before she left the entrance tunnel. He slowed to a snail's pace, watching as she paused every few feet to lean against the wall and rest.

There was something slightly tragic, even to Mulch, that someone so proud and vital could find themselves so alone and spent. He wasn't sure why of all the people in the world to pity he chose this one, but he did.

"Look," he said, coming up next to her, "do you want some help?"

Amaterasu whirled at the sound of his voice, one hand on her heart. It took her a minute to catch her breath but, when she had, she glared down at him. "Who the hell are you?" she asked imperiously.

"I..." Mulch thought this over. "I'm a thief," he said.

"A thief," Amaterasu echoed incredulously.

"Yeah. So do you want a hand or not?"

Amaterasu looked down at the spear she was holding then back at Mulch. "Won't you just run off with this if you're a thief?" she pointed out.

Mulch shook his head. "Please, lady, that's just insulting. I do have _some_ professional pride. If I was going to rob you I'd have done it already and you would never even have known I'd been here."

The other smiled. "Thank you," she said, and handed him the spear.

"My pleasure," said Mulch, and kept pace with her as she made her way down the tunnel.

"I don't suppose," Amaterasu said after a moment, "that you'd care to tell me what you're doing in my home?"

"Oh, I've been following you since you left Lake Biwa," Mulch shrugged.

Amaterasu paused to lean against the wall, though whether from shock or fatigue Mulch wasn't sure.

"You're working for the police," she said at last. Her voice was resigned.

"No, not exactly. Sometimes, I work _with_ the police, but never _for_ them. And not really the police so much as one specific officer. She's...well, I guess you could say she's a friend."

"A police officer and a thief, now that's something you don't see every day."

Mulch chuckled. "This particular officer has a bit of a soft spot for thieves. She's really in the wrong line of business, I'm afraid. Or," he cocked his head, "maybe the right one."

Amaterasu looked down at him sharply. "Your police officer...she's not an elf, is she?"

"Yeah, that's right. A spunky ginger one. Got a left hook on her like you wouldn't believe."

"She's a friend of the human's?"

"That's right. Speaking of thieves, there's a prime example right there."

"She's dead," Amaterasu said.

Mulch stopped in his tracks. "What?"

"One of my associates...he hit her with this spear, she didn't have any magic left."

It was Mulch's turn to lean against the wall. "Holly...You're lying. She's not...she can't be. Artemis would never let her just up and die. No. Absolutely not."

"I'm..." Amaterasu licked her lips, "I'm sorry," she said.

"No," Mulch shook his head. "No, I messaged her just a few hours ago and got a reply. She's not dead."

"Would the human be able to use her communicator?"

"Well, yes, but...but..."Mulch sank to the floor.

"Does that mean they are on their way here, then?" Amaterasu asked.

Mulch raised his head abruptly, peering up at Amaterasu. He felt sorry for her but his pity had limits. "No," he lied. "No, they think I'm in Europe."

Amaterasu, in a gesture that shocked even herself, leaned down and offered Mulch her hand. "Come inside with me," she said. "There should still be some _sake_ in the pantry. We'll toast her."

Mulch took the offered hand and pulled himself to his feet. "That would be nice," he said, and rubbed hard at his eyes with a corner of his sleeve.

* * *

The tunnel ended with a set of ornately carved wooden doors. In the dim light a scene of Amaterasu fighting with her brothers could be made out. Cautiously, Holly eased one open and peered into the room beyond. What she saw was so unexpected that she closed the door and opened it again just to make sure she wasn't suffering from some sort of hallucination brought on by sleep deprivation.

On the other side of the door was a beautiful room. The walls were covered in gold leaf over which scenes of cherry trees and birds with long colorful tails had been painted. The gold leaf reflected the lights of the lamps, filling the room with a warm glow, despite the lack of windows.

In the middle of the room, on the tatami-mat covered floor, was a low table of dark polished wood on which stood a tall bottle of sake, two small cups, and an electric hot plate with a double boiler to warm the alcohol. Draped on either side of the table were Amaterasu and Mulch Digguns. In a far corner of the room the spear lay entirely forgotten.

"Don't you ever think sometimes, you know, to hell with it? To hell with the whole world and all the Mud Men and the rules and the...the...everything?" Amaterasu picked up her cup and gestured with it.

Mulch nodded, "Sure, of course I do, but that doesn't mean I'm about to go carve a chunk of rock off a country and fly into Limbo on it? I mean, that's just crazy."

"Everyone always says that. But if this had succeeded, I'd've been a genius." She slammed her cup back down on the table. "Such a fine line."

"Whaddya mean 'if this had succeeded'?" Mulch asked.

"Well your humans will be here soon, won't they? Or what, you were just texting them to tell them you got safely to Europe?"

Mulch pursed his lips. "Okay, maybe I lied."

"'S'alright," Amaterasu shook her head forlornly. "I'd've lied too."

Mulch held up his cup, "To lying!"

"To lying!"

They nodded to each other and downed their drinks.

"Another?" Mulch picked up the double boiler.

"Please." As she watched Mulch pour, Amaterasu shook her head. "But do you at least see where I was coming from?"

Mulch nodded. "Oh definitely, but I wouldn't go killing and kidnapping because of it."

Amaterasu sighed. "My mother always said I went to extremes. Mind you, my father killed my youngest brother when my mother died in childbirth, so I feel that I come by this honestly."

Mulch contemplated this. "That is...pretty extreme," he agreed at last.

Sighing, Amaterasu looked down into the bottom of her cup. "I've never said this before, but maybe I should go to therapy."

"I feel that could definitely be worth your while."

"Therapists are all just so dumb, though, you know? So...so boring."

Mulch smiled.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing."

Amaterasu raised her eyebrows.

"You remind me of someone I know, that's all," said Mulch.

"Are they crazy?" she asked softly.

Mulch looked at her for a long moment. "No," he replied at last, "no, they are...they _were..._just a bit screwed up. They're getting better."

"Did they go to therapy?"

Mulch smiled. "They made friends."

Amaterasu mimed gagging and Mulch laughed. "Let me pour you another one," he said.

"Yes, please. This time, to your friend."

Mulch nodded, raising his cup again. "To Holly, the gods damned best LEP officer under the world."

"To Holly!"

They raised their glasses and, just as they drank, Holly herself stepped out from behind the door. "Mulch," she said, "what in the seven hells is going on here?"


	13. Looking Down

The final chapter! Ta da! Thank you to everyone who has reviewed and said lovely, lovely things. And especially Shriannan, summerful21, Tawny, and Forever Day for having stuck with it and reviewed every single bloody chapter, you guys made my day several times!

At the beginning of this story I mentioned the possibility of a third and final installment. This is in the works - slowly - but there will be a shorter interlude story that takes place between this one and that one that should be out relatively soon so keep your eyes open!

As always, a million thank yous to my tireless beta, ilex ferox who has successfully kept me from looking like a total idiot for yet another story.

* * *

**Chapter Twelve: Looking Down  
**

**9:27a.m., May 5th, Okami Fortress, Kuchinoerabujima**

Mulch choked, spewing _sake_ across the table. Amaterasu was so shocked, she didn't even recoil.

"No, no, no," she said, climbing unsteadily to her feet. "You're dead. I saw you die. There was blood everywhere. That human of yours was losing his mind."

Holly moved into the room, allowing the others to follow. As Kokoro circled behind Amaterasu, Holly shrugged. "I was dead," she agreed, smiling faintly at a memory, "but then I got better." Somewhere behind her she heard Butler snort quietly.

"Got better..." Amaterasu trailed off, staring at the elf, then down at her empty sake cup, then up again to Holly. "You're seeing her too, aren't you, dwarf?"

Mulch nodded slowly, never looking away from Holly.

"How?"

"It's a long story," Holly said. "Artemis and...Kannon helped."

At Kannon's name, Amaterasu tore her eyes away from the elf and glanced around at the others now encircling her. "You're here to take me in, aren't you?" It was more a statement than a fact.

Holly nodded.

"That's probably for the best," said Amaterasu, her voice surprisingly even. "To tell you the truth, I really just can't be bothered anymore. And it looks better getting arrested than just giving up."

"'S'true," agreed Mulch. "Way more street cred."

"Would you all mind just holding off for a few more minutes?" Amaterasu sat back down at the table. "Mulch and I are nearly finished the bottle."

Holly watched as Shancai picked up the spear from where it had been abandoned and passed it to Kannon. She looked over at Kokoro who was shaking her head, then back down to Amaterasu. "Would you like Butler and Artemis to go?" Holly asked.

Amaterasu shook her head. "You lot will have a warlock strip me of my magic for crimes against the People anyway. At least this way I'll get a drink out of it. You pour, dwarf."

Mulch finally turned away from Holly. He smiled at Amaterasu. "It would be my pleasure," he said.

And so they all waited, watching as Mulch filled the cups. The oddly-matched pair held up their drinks and, silently, toasted each other. After all, there was really nothing left to say.

* * *

**3:00pm, May 5th, INA Headquarters, Inari-yama, Kyoto**

As other officers came forward to take Amaterasu from Butler, Kokoro stood next to Holly, leaning in to speak with her over the noise. "We should have arrested her right away," the _kitsune _said. "Who knows what tricks she might have had up her sleeve."

Holly shook her head. "Kannon had the spear and Amaterasu had drunk half a bottle of _sake_, even if she'd wanted to - which she clearly didn't - there wasn't much she could have done."

"Still, it was a risk. Why bother?"

Holly shrugged. "She knew she'd lost. There wasn't any need to grind the point home. I..." Holly trailed off for a second. "I can sympathise, I suppose."

"You can sympathise with an intended mass-murderer," Kokoro repeated incredulously.

Holly laughed softly. "I can sympathise with wanting to finish with a bit of dignity," she corrected.

Kokoro shook her head. "Well, it's lucky for Amaterasu that you're in charge, then. Because I would have hauled her off then and there."

"That would probably have been the smartest response," Holly admitted, smiling. She turned to scan the room and noticed Artemis was watching them from the far wall. She looked at him as she spoke, "But I've always liked to think that a little faith in a person will pay off in the end."

Artemis smiled slightly and turned away, letting them finish the conversation in private. He knew they wouldn't have much longer to talk.

As if on cue, a techie sprite hollered over the hubbub, "Major Short, Commanders Root and Kuzu are calling for you."

Reluctantly, Holly left Kokoro's side.

* * *

**9:13p.m., May 5th, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Kyoto**

Everyone else had been sleeping for hours, but Artemis was restless and his mind even more so as it digested the events of the past twenty-four hours, turning them over and over again, sifting through it all. He'd been pacing the suite while everyone else had been sleeping and was in no mood for company. When he heard them rise he slipped out onto the balcony, the sheer curtains hiding him from view; The lights were on inside however, and, from where he stood, he could read their lips as they spoke. Watching them come to terms with each other let him ignore his own problems: it soothed him even more than sleep. And other people's privacy had never really been an issue for him.

Shancai sat on the arm of the couch, Longnu stood next to him. Kannon had taken the armchair.

Longnu laid a hand on Shancai's arm. He looked at her without saying anything. At last Longnu tightened her grip on his sleeve. "I'm so sorry, Shan," she said. "I should have talked to you about this. Before, I mean. I should have thought about it."

Shancai smiled crookedly. "Well," he shrugged, "I am a very good actor, I had everyone fooled."

Longnu shook her head. "Don't be stoic about this," she told him. "Not with me. The three of us, we should be beyond this by now."

"Did you think it was me?" he asked. "Did you think I was the traitor?"

"I thought about it," she admitted. "But I didn't believe it. Despite everything, I know you too well to believe that."

"Thank you," he said. His crooked smile grew a little. Longnu put her arms around his neck and hugged him. His smile grew even more.

Kannon rose and sat down next to Shancai on the couch, taking one of his hands in hers. "Do you think," she spoke softly, "that we might be able to come to some sort of arrangement? You are as dear to me as Longnu, Shan. I let my fear get the better of me as we were beginning our...hibernation. I didn't think it through. I would like to make it up to you."

Shancai looked at the two of them: the two people closest and dearest to him in the world. Artemis watched the fairy's thoughts pass across his face and understood them perfectly. He wanted to hate Kannon; he wanted to make Longnu jealous; he wanted to say 'to hell with the both of you!' and storm out in a cloud of self-righteous indignation. But he couldn't and he wouldn't. He would only be miserable if he did.

"I think we could," he said at last.

Artemis smiled to himself. At least someone would come out ahead at the end of all this.

* * *

**10:03p.m., May 5th, Hyatt Regency Hotel, Kyoto**

"You haven't slept at all, have you?" She came up behind him, sitting next to him as he turned to look at her.

Silently, he shook his head.

"You're not a robot, Artemis," she admonished him. "You haven't slept in over 24 hours."

"I know. I will. Soon. I simply...just not yet," he finished lamely.

She chuckled a little. "I don't have any magic right now, you know. If you faint from exhaustion I won't be able to help you."

"I'm sure a good slap would work just as well in that instance as a dose of magic," he said, smiling.

She returned his grin. "Don't tempt me, Fowl."

"Wouldn't dream of it, Short." His smile took on a different quality, slightly bittersweet. Holly bit her lip and looked away.

They sat like that, silently, for a moment and watched the city lights.

"It looks like one of those pictures of space you people are always getting so excited about," Holly said at last.

"The city does?"

"Yes."

"That would be nice, I think."

"What would?"

"If we were sitting on a balcony above an entirely new galaxy, watching the stars."

She turned a quizzical look on him, but he just watched the lights. The colours flickered and changed, moving across his face like a film.

"I feel so strange, Artemis," she whispered, finally addressing the metaphorical elephant on the balcony.

"I know." He looked back to her at last. She opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out; she simply kept looking at him, there in the almost-dark. She knew she had to speak soon or they would sit here like this forever, just looking at each other. It would be so eary to do.

"Did you really run away from home when you were three?" she asked finally.

"You saw that, did you?" He smiled, then frowned. What else had she seen during her brief stint in his mind?

Nodding, she shifted, getting comfortable. "Don't worry," she said, "I won't tell everyone what I saw."

"It isn't everyone I'm worried about," he admitted.

She smiled. "I promise to forget everything I saw. Does that make you feel better?"

"Only marginally."

She bit her lips again and looked away, down toward the far-off ground. "Artemis, some of the things I saw..."

A muscle in his jaw twitched. "Please forget them. Forget them all."

"Some of them were very flattering. I didn't know you thought so highly of me."

"Don't mock me," he said. "I'm fully aware of—"

"I'm not making fun of you, Artemis. I'm saying thank you. Besides, I'm sure you saw things I'd rather have kept secret." She smiled crookedly and put a hand to his cheek, brushing back a stray bit of hair.

He smiled, thankful for the change of subject. "Your first boyfriend did have hideous skin. Doesn't magic fix that?"

"Now who's mocking who?" She slapped his arm lightly.

"Who is mocking _whom_."

"Oh, shut up, Artemis." She bumped her shoulder against his, once, twice, before letting herself lean on him.

He smiled, content. She was alive and she was with him still. There was a space in him through which the wind blew, cold and sharp: a space she had once occupied and which no one would ever again be able to fill. But she was here with him, and he was happy with that for now. The rest could wait a little longer.

**The End**


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